I’ve had it. Actually (and more accurately) I’ve lost it.
Tell me if this sounds familiar to anyone.
I grab my stuff and leave the house. I get into my car and immediately reach for my phone. I know I had it right before I left; but I can’t find it in my purse. So I turn off the car and get out and go back in the house. The minute I get inside I find the phone deep in the pocket of my jacket.
It wouldn’t be a big deal if this didn’t go on all day long.
But it does.
I’m starting to obsess over the possibility that I might have lost or forgotten something, even when I haven’t.
Not only do I constantly check that I have my keys and wallet with me, I’ve also developed this habit of going back to check my car after I park it, just in case I forgot to lock it. Which I have never forgotten to do even once.
I think the phone is the worst because it’s become like an extension of ourselves. How did we ever function without everything it can do at our fingertips?
I don’t leave the house without it; I don’t even leave the room without it. The only reason worth having a land-line is using it to call to find my cell phone. Sometimes I think playing word games on the phone is the only thing that stands between me and Alzheimer’s.
For years I”ve been waiting for someone to invent a device women can wear to hang onto it. My purse is a black hole; and I can’t get into wearing it around my neck. I’m sure someday phones will be small enough to wear on the wrist but I can’t wait that long.
The thing is, I haven’t ever lost it; I just think I have.
And I think I’ve reached some kind of dubious milestone—I spend almost more time thinking I’m losing things than I do using them.
I felt a lot better about my mental health recently when a girlfriend from high school was visiting me in California for a few days.
It turns out she has the same obsession. (I refuse to believe it’s connected to our age.) We spent half of our time constantly checking to be sure we had all our stuff with us when we went somewhere.
We spent one night in a hotel; and when I left the room to check out, I didn’t take the key.
The instant the door closes behind me, I reach into my purse and can’t find my cell phone.
I’m convinced I left it in the room. The housekeeper is down the hall so I convince her to unlock the door to let me back in. I go back in the room and within seconds I find the phone deep in my purse. (yes I have enough brain cells left to realize one solution would be clearing out my purse– or carrying a smaller one.)
My friend and I drive back to Carmel. On the road we make one pit stop at a gas station. My friend goes to the ladies room for 5 minutes; comes back to the car and can’t find her sunglasses that she was wearing when she went into the ladies’ room. No other customers are around; but when she goes back to the ladies’ room, no sunglasses. So our pit stop turns into an hour while we tear apart the ladies’ room and the trunk of my car looking for them.
I wish I could report that they were on top of her head; which is where I usually find mine.
We never did find the sunglasses.
And when I get home, I have my phone; but I realize I left my iPad in the hotel room.
I know I had a point to make about all this, but I forgot what it was.
Dear Darryle,
Phew. I thought it was only me. I constantly go through that with my cell phone and my purse. And yes, one time my glasses were on my head too.
I knew we were sisters from another mother.
Or….at the very least around the same age.
Lovingly and forgetfully yours,
Wendi
P.S. Sometimes I even forget how to spell words that I know how to spell. That really scares me,
As always, I swear you must have a closed-circuit camera (maybe “Face Time”) planted in my house. Because about 95% of your posts hit “home” with my wife & I. I guess it’s a function of having grown up in the exact same era in the exact same city in the exact same high school, but I know it’s more than that. I can always count on getting lots of chuckles, a good amount of tears (some happy, some a little sad, and some heartwarming), and always always always a huge amount of pride knowing that I have found you after all these years and that you are my friend.
Two weeks ago I went on a trip with my husband to celebrate our anniversary. The night before, I carefully laid out my clothes and jewelry for the next day, and then packed the rest, thoughtfully putting my various accessories in ziplocs to go with the outfits I was putting in the suitcase. Made lists for my kids, thought of every possible contingency and contact they might need, and left the house. Seven hours later (after having been in D.C. and visiting the Smithsonian to see the latest Annie Liebovitz exhibit), I realize I do not have my wedding rings on. The wedding rings I laid out with clothes the night before. Long story short, despite a solid week of effort, I have yet to find them and I’m not sure if I lost them at home or in D.C. They’re gone, gone, gone.
How ironic is that? Losing your wedding rings on a trip to celebrate your 30th anniversary?
Haha Wendi, we’re in the same boat (leaky) and apparently with LOTS of other people. I’ve had that same experience too with words that suddenly don’t look right or phone numbers I KNOW I know but somehow seem wrong. Oy. And thank you.
What a sweet and wonderful comment, Ron!! So appreciate your feeling it and saying it–and glad to hear so many of my posts hit home—although you have my sympathies on this one here.
Boy do I relate to this post! I’m always checking and then re-checking things, you know, just in case I forgot something…
I rarely leave the house now without my phone either. You are definitely not alone on this one! I can’t tell you how many times I have misplaced my phone, among other things…
I know for a fact my memory isn’t what it used to be before cancer and chemo. I know I forget more things. I know I spend more time thinking about not forgetting…
Anyway, great post. Glad I’m not alone!
Great post, Darryle. I think we are all in the same boat. At least those of us of a “certain age”.
You do need to install “find my phone” on your IPhone as an app, though, linked to your computer. So if you do “misplace” your phone it will tell you exactly, via explicit map, where your IPhone is located — even if it’s at the grocery store, or the bank, or whatever. Probably not the perfect thing if you were having an assignation where you weren’t supposed to be, but that is not something we need to worry about anymore!
Again, great post. You always make me feel better about my own foibles.
This is the stuff that has become a frequent concern in my life as well. My issues are complicated by the fact that if I don’t have my glasses on I may not be able to see the phone. Worse problem arises when or if somehow the ringer gets turned off I cannot locate the thing by its ring. I know I can live withthout it. Because I went cold turkey for a month long period a year ago when I was out the country and my cell phone was turned off. But I don’t seem to want to. Something has to give and a solution to the question of where is my phone has to give. Maybe the phone should have a place like keys and always always be kept in that place.
OMG; so ironic! I have a lost wedding ring story but it had a happy ending. Hope next time you lose something it turns out better–thanks for sharing.
PS The iPad I lost in that hotel room was also sentimental to me—and I never got it back either.
Thank you! If it makes you feel any better, I’ve heard stories now from so many people about losing things and the constant checking—it did make me feel less alone, and far less crazy.
As I write this, I just misplaced my phone and had my husband call it so I could find it. It was in the back pocket of my jeans. Haha
Thank you, Marla—this one made all of us feel better, I think. We all seem to be doing the same thing.
I do know about the “find your phone” app; and I have it on the phone. Haven’t had to use it yet.
I also had it on that lost iPad but it has to be turned on in order to turn up; and it never did.
Everything you say sounds SO familiar—I have the same problem with not being able to see the phone without glasses; also have lost it while the sound was turned off—really a challenge!
And keeping it in the same place is a great idea; but somehow I never manage that one—i.e. having just forgotten I stuck it in the pocket of my jeans. I lose my keys too! I think I’m hopeless.
Thanks so much for commenting!