June 1, 2022

Scattered. 

My brain has been totally scattered lately. There I was last night rushing home to meet my daughter. When will I learn to slow down?

I checked my pocket and sure enough, the key to her car was there. I jumped on my motorbike and headed home to grab her car so I could meet her at the bus. I was so proud of my kid for catching a bus home. She has been growing by leaps and bounds lately, first her L now a long bus ride at night. 

Too bad her dad is such a scatterbrain lately.

I had the key in my pocket so off I went. When I got home I pulled my helmet off and reached into my pocket for the key so I could drive to the bus stop with her car and let her drive home.

Where the hell did the key go?

It was there only a few minutes before. 

I looked in the house and checked my pocket three times, and finally, I took my wife’s car and went to get the kid.

I knew she was disappointed when she saw Krista’s car but she jumped in grateful to get off her feet. She has been volunteering at the Hospital lately and her shift ended at 8 pm. I was in Toastmasters so she needed to get her own way home across the bridge. Considering how poor transit is in Kelowna she did well getting back to Westbank in an hour.

I phoned my friends from the meeting and asked them to look for the key. No luck…

I went myself to retrace my steps. Sadly there was no sign of the missing key. It must have fallen out of my pocket on the road somewhere.

God, I hate it when that happens. 

When I got back home I knew that key was gone. But where was the other key? I had delayed my search, I figured it would turn up somewhere. Now it was time to look for it in earnest.

After two hours of searching and I found two missing socks, a missing bar of CBD tincture, and the owner’s manual for my new boat motor that had been missing.

But still no key.

And no sleep.

I tossed and turned. In my dreams, I found her missing key. Only to wake up and realize it was only a dream. 

I felt so stupid.

And it was only one day after my teenager finally got her L. She even gave me a hard time for losing the first key, I can hear her voice, “Dad you gave me those keys then I gave them back to you, how could you lose them?”

Indeed how could I lose them?

Another first-world problem.

I sit and wait for the local Hyundai dealer to open and find out how much new keys will cost me. I spent two hours last night and no sleep then woke up at 5 and searched again.

Time to let it go and tell my daughter.

Will I ever learn to slow down? There was a speech at Toastmasters where the speaker said we need to let go of regrets. Unpack them and put them down before they become a huge weight on our shoulders. He was right. I am thankful for his speech and the timing of it. 

Time to let go and move on. This too shall pass and my kid has her whole life ahead to drive. Hopefully, we both learn not to lose our keys… 

I couldn’t sleep, I was so stressed about the stupid key. I went and looked again when the sun was high in the air. I looked down on the wet roads and searched again. 

I didn’t understand, how could the key have fallen out of my pocket and disappeared?

I gave up and called the tow truck, he was scheduled to come and tow the car to the dealership. It would take about $ 310.00 and much of the day. What a pain…

Then the phone rang, it was my wife. “Found the key!” 

“What?” I was dumbfounded how could she have found the key? I’d been looking for it for hours. “Where, how?

“My friend accidentally picked it up when she came and got her hat. I was telling her about it when she spotted it with her glasses and hat.” I could sense the relief in her voice.

“Holy wow, man that’s great news!” relief and frustration washed over me. What a waste of time, but at least the key was found.

And it wasn’t my fault.

The bonus was I found the manual for the motor, I found an extra pair of sunglasses and I cleaned the junk drawer.

Maybe I’m not so scattered after all. Hahaha.