My sister, Frankie, made a tower of grapevine for us two years ago. She had made one for herself that I greatly admired, and she and her husband collaborated on one for us. I took to calling it “Cousin It,” much to her dismay. Her tower was graced with strings of lights that welcomed you to their front door, and, of course, I wanted mine to look just like hers.
Frankie found strings of Italian lights with wires that were brown, so that they blended in with the grapevines. I plugged the lights in every night throughout the Christmas season, and into January, and then they died.
One of the chores on my to-do list was to find replacement lights for It. We tried several places near our home with no luck until I struck it rich at Hobby Lobby. I bought two sets, to be sure I had a back up.
I was ready to string the lights the other day, but couldn’t find them. I asked Dear Husband if he had seen them. No….neither of us could remember where they’d been put. I checked every conceivable place they could have been tucked away, with no luck.
I was seriously considering going back to buy more lights, when Dear Husband announced that he had found them. We had taken the SUV in for winterizing, and were using our second car to run errands that day. The lights had been sitting in the back seat of that car, and I’d never thought to look there.
I could SEE myself tossing the lights into the back seat. I just couldn’t see which car it had been. When Mother was alive, I was always the finder of things. No matter what she lost, I was likely to be able to find it. I think I may need someone to fill that role for me, now.