Dear Reader:

Ambika knows me so well after all these years of being blog-buddies and posts-connected…particularly my flawed “If it can be lost I can lose it” segment on life.

She received a downright funny episode on aging and forgetfulness that a friend sent. She said she immediately thought of me. (Sad but true I am afraid.) The little anecdote IS funny and I could relate… though the latest “lost” incident in my life hasn’t been quite so humorous…but first…here is the story.”

“Oh Dear Lord…Not Again!”

After a meeting, I was coming out of a hotel and I was looking for my car keys. They were not in my pockets. A quick search in the meeting room, they wasn’t there either.

Suddenly I realized I must have left them in the car.

My husband has shouted at me in frustration many times for leaving the keys in the ignition.

My theory is the ignition is the best place not to lose them …….
His theory is the car will be stolen if left in the ignition key slot !

Immediately, I rushed to the parking lot and came to a terrifying conclusion …..
His theory was right. The parking lot was empty 😱😞😞.

I immediately called the police. I gave them my location, description of the car, place I parked, etc. I equally confessed that I had left my keys in the car, and that the car had been stolen.

Then I made the most difficult call of all, to my husband,
“Honey (I stammered ; I always call him ‘honey’ in times like these)…   “I left my keys in the car …. and it has been stolen.”

There was a big, l-o-n-g silence. I thought the call had been dropped, but then I heard his voice.
“Idiot”, he shouted, “I dropped you at the hotel !”

Now it was my time to be silent. Embarrassed, though relieved and happy as well, I said, “Well, then please come and get me.”

He shouted again, “I will, as soon as I convince this policeman, that I have not stolen your car.” 😁😁

………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

When Ambika let me know the other day about this little story…she had no way of knowing how appropriate the timing was. You might remember last Sunday was a “wash out” day…cold and dreary. I had ‘holed’ up with a few sniffles and ventured out of the house only once to pick up some monthly prescriptions from CVS.

That was when I discovered something was “amiss.” My driver’s seat had been pushed all the way back (almost touching the back seat.) It was the eeriest feeling. Who had been in my car?

I had not locked it the late afternoon before…the same afternoon Luke and I were dragging the prickly shrub tree to the street and got caught in the first rain showers. I thought I might go out one more time…but decided I didn’t want to fight the rain and would just stay home. Later Saturday night I remembered I hadn’t locked the car but dismissed it with it being a miserably rainy night. Who would be out in this kind of weather?

Sunday…after I discovered someone had been in the car…I started looking around for things that might be missing. But nothing looked touched or out of place…even the penny change and some candy was right where I left it.

But then I remembered I always kept an extra car key down in the bottom of my console pocket under lots of James Taylor and Carole King CD’s and tissues. *I figured that unless some car thief was as big a fan as myself…he/she wouldn’t want to flip through all the CDs to get to the bottom. Yet…I couldn’t find it. Had I moved it one time earlier and forgotten to replace it?

But I also knew the car hadn’t been moved. It was on the exact same spot I had parked it…no changes in the gas gauge. A real mystery. But then why was the key (perhaps) missing and why didn’t the person pull the car seat back into place…if so I probably never would have suspected anything.

To add to the mystery…there was/is an abandoned bike near my driveway… that to date has never been claimed. Luke and I pulled it in a neighbor’s yard next to mine and propped it up by a tree. Since then this episode update has gone out to neighbors involved in our Neighborhood Watch group.

Luke told me yesterday that several residents noticed three young men, all dressed in dark clothing, hanging around the streets late Saturday afternoon. Is there a connection? We don’t know yet.

However I did have to chuckle…because with my old car being quite old (with lots of miles behind it)…two of the indoor lights are defective and come on when the car is started…even though the car has been checked and there isn’t a problem…the engine light and the oil light immediately come on. *If someone had started the car…and saw those lights…they probably figured they had lucked out with a “clunker” that was most likely going to leave him/them high and dry before they could even get out of the driveway…much less the neighborhood.

Thank goodness for old cars with defective parts! (Yet…like we “baby boomers” we can still contribute…flaws and all! :))

Luke is getting an outdoor camera that will monitor our section of the street…I am now pulling the car right up to my den window and keeping the flood light on that side of the yard and driveway on overnight.

As much money as I have put into keeping the “Green Vue” going lately I sometimes have to laugh to myself and thank I ought to beg someone to drag this car off….One more glitch and I will probably be resigned to paying monthly car installments again.

But for now…all is good and life continues…sometimes with a little extra excitement added in. And humor does help ease the pain.

So until then…“The most wasted of all days…is one without humor.” e.e.cummings

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Don’t forget! Today is the first day of February. Say “rabbit” first thing today to have a lucky wonderful month!

Isn’t it hard to believe…one cold month down…and another shorter one coming…hopefully…right Mr. Groundhog?

Even Ms. Rabbit has wrapped her Valentines scarf snugly around her on these cold sunny days.

…And speaking of “thieves and stealing” these three are accused of stealing my heart each and every day.