This is the final hour of my visit with my friend and his wife.  Before I know it I will be transported back to my house.  I wonder if the familiar will appear “new” at least for a short time.  I will have to rediscover my house, my music and books, again.  And I left out my mate and my garden.  Before I know it everything will appear the same.  As if I never left.  What an illusion?!

It was only a set of keys, including my car keys.  I could not remember where I put them down.  I was pretty sure they were in the house.  I looked high and low for several hours and could not find them.

I was sure I must have left them in a spot I normally do not keep them.  I probably had them in my hands and dropped them somewhere I normally wouldn’t.  I looked upstairs and downstairs, even outside.  No luck.

It was a small thing but it was driving me a little crazy.  The worst possible scenario was I would have to replace them.  My wife had duplicate keys.  I was sure I would come across them when I stopped looking for them.  I just could not understand how I could misplace them.

PS  I finally gave up.  My wife prayed and started to help me look.  She first looked in the car.  I had told her that I’d taken out the trash, so she checked there, and spotted them in the bottom of one garbage can.  Thank God:  the trash was being picked up tomorrow.  I was relieved.  It is funny how a small thing like misplacing your keys can throw for a loop and cause you to become disheveled and completely disturb your day.

I spend an inordinate amount of time straightening up my house.  It seems I mess it up, then I reach a point I can no longer tolerate my own disorder so I have to do something about it and then this cycle repeats itself.  And over and over.

I remember the few times my family went on vacation without me (I raised a boy and girl) things actually did not move.  They stayed in the same spot.

But I have to live with my own messes.  So does my wife.  I try to logically place items I put away.  Currently we are running out of space for books.  And we still buy more.  And I have run out of space for newly recorded cassettes.

We have empty cassette racks but we have to agree where to place them.  And that has not occurred yet.  It would take me another lifetime to play all the cassettes I have not heard.  Don’t ask me where we got them that is another story.

All this drives me crazy (and my wife).  Sometimes parts of my house actually looks neat and organized.  Until next time.