I have developed a very special talent in my happy golden years.  I can hide things… from myself!

Oh, yes, I know you’re thinking, how is such a thing possible?  Allow me to elucidate.

My kids are so good to me.  Over the Thanksgiving break, they came to my house and did all the decorating for Christmas. How lucky am I?  The house was like a beehive, with everyone doing their part—getting the many boxes out of the attic, sorting everything out, and putting up and decorating the tree, stringing the garlands along the mantle, unboxing the many little birds that decorate the hearth.  It was a lot of work, and they all did it so well.

All that was left for yours truly to do was to put the candles in the windows.  Easy peasy.  Pop in new batteries, place them in the windows, and boom! Mission accomplished.

There was just one little snag.  I couldn’t find the candles. That put a definite kink in my plans.

I looked (or thought I looked) in all the usual places. Many years ago, for reasons that remain obscure to me, I purchased a handy under-bed storage container. I believe this may have happened when the kids were still home and space was at a premium.  At any rate, I thought I had put the candles in this container under the bed in my granddaughter Adeline’s room, but a cursory look failed to detect them.

Then I remembered that this summer, in one of my cleaning sprees (and, oh yes, old ladies do have such sprees), I sorted out the candles in this box, donating some older ones and (I thought) keeping the new ones that had now gone missing.

See, that’s one of my special talents—hiding things from myself.  I lose my phone, on average, about four times a day.  I’ve been known to set a spoon down on my kitchen counter and be unable to find it two seconds later.  Wow. It’s a gift. Not to brag, but I’m a girl who can hide her own Easter eggs.

However—and this is my saving grace -I am nothing if not persistent. I was not going to buy new candles.  I knew the candles had to be somewhere in this house.  The question was - where?

I began by looking under every other bed in the house.  No luck.  I searched all the closets and came up empty.  Next was the basement, which has, over time, turned into a giant walk-in closet. This took some time, but again, no dice.     

Next it was time to climb into the dreaded attic, where so many boxes and piles of dreams go to sleep.  After two unsuccessful sojourns to these heights, I was almost ready to give up.             

Just for old times’ sake, I decided to take one more look under Adeline’s bed. And what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a box full of candles that I had somehow missed the first time around. You really do find things in the last place you look for them!                  

Ah, dear friends, I just love going on these little treasure hunts, especially when I find the treasure.  It’s how we boomers keep ourselves busy.