Saga of the lost cell phone

This morning I realized that I didn’t know where my cell phone was. Last I could remember I had it at the movie we went to the other night (Wed. Mar 1st., Eight Below see previous post).

I looked high and low in the house and in the van. Queried the children about it, since they have done things lately and not told the truth about it right away when asked, and made them help look and talked about it several times, and all the while trying to get over a migraine. Dh helped look too, and after awhile we were really looking hard, turning over everything and I felt like it was such a waste of time, either it wasn’t here because I left it somewhere else, or someone got rid of it (like put it in the garbage or in a hole in the backyard or something.)

Thinking even harder and querying the children deeper and deeper, I started asking questions of my eldest as if it was a CSI case. I said that witnesses and potential witnesses must be questioned a lot to get out every detail in order to figure out what happened, and sometimes one witness can help another out by reminding them of something they forgot, but remember because of one little thing another uncovers.

This then turned out to really aide me, as something he said turned my memory into liquid gold … I recalled exactly that I didn’t have the phone in my hands when we walked out of the theatre, that I was carrying a big drink in my left hand, as well as a bag of candy in the same hand. I felt quite over loaded. I had my right hand free then, and walked to where the steps down where and there started holding my youngests hand in my right to guide him down, and I didn’t change anything to make that happen. I had small pockets in my denim skirt, and might have had the phone dangling over the edge of a pocket, or inside, but in any case I had earlier WANTED my leather case for the phone, and realised it was in the van when it was too much to go back for it, due to the time and distance, before the movie.

I had the phone in my lap when the movie was going to begin, and then shut it off instead of turning the ringer off. Then a few minute later Dh asked me what the time was, so I turned the phone back on to see, but he had his phone out by then and saw for himself, and I then told myself that I would just leave my phone on, since no one save Dh has my phone number anyhow. I remember holding the phone during the movie then, it was right there on my lap.

I cannot recall though getting up and going out, for sure it is a blank as to exactly what I did with the phone, but it’s cristal clear as to what happened earlier. I remember getting up and going out, but not anything about the phone.

So it was the memory of going down holding my sons hand and then getting to the escalater and him freaking out and he couldn’t get on, and I have a half-problem getting on them myself, and could help him if my hands were free, but I had that stuff in my left hand and couldn’t get him on without freaking myself. So we stood there a bit then my head cleared and I thought of the elevator, which I do not like either, but it’s better than falling down the excalator. This mall we were in has the theatre on the third floor. The first floor has excalator up to the second floor, and another escalator up from there to the the third, as well as stairs from the second floor to the third floor, and elevator from first to second and third floors. Why no stairs from first to second, I don’t know. I like stairs. So there, that all clinched my thoughts, I just didn’t seem to have the phone then. I didn’t seem to have brought it in the house as I normaly would have when we got home.

I wasn’t totally sure though.

Dh called the theatre, they said nothing was found, that they comb the theatres after shows (yeah, right).

We looked more and then Dh said we’d just go and look ourselves in the theatre. We got there later and Dh went in, and guess what … someone had just turned in a cell phone 10 minutes earlier, my phone.

So I lost it on Wed. night. All day Thurs. no one found it, and we didn’t realize it was lost so hadn’t called the yheatre about it that day. Friday we started calling it to find it and no one answered it. Many calls to it and no one found it. Not until later. We’d already called the phone company twice to have service to it turned off once in case it was found and no one then could use it to ruin our billing, then right before we got there called again to turn it on (so that we could call it and find it by following the ring if necessary.) So anyhow it was out of my care for a day and a half and when I got it back no one had made a single call on it, so it laid on whatever hallway floor it was found on for that whole time. Singularly strange.

So I have my phone back now. I am so glad. I hadn’t had a phone for a long time. I used to have one, but Dh switched companies long ago and didn’t get me one until just about a month ago. It’s relief to have one, I feel much more secure out with one, or in the house when Dh is away. Our house phone is a line base one and I have to go into Dh’s office to see who’s calling or to talk to him and that is very tiresome for me to be stuck on a phone, and I don’t talk on the phone to anyone but Dh, so it’s tiresome to have to look every time it rings, which means getting out of bed, or going up the stairs, leaving the stove, etc. I haven’t had a vehicle to drive around in really either, so between having no phone and not my own car, I just haven’t gone out without Dh in a couple of years. We have some van issues, so if some can be fixed it will be easier for me to go with the children somewhere as long as I have my cell phone, as I now do. 🙂

I wasn’t doing to well this morning when all this happened though. My headache was only part of it, the whole missing phone thing just stressed me way past my deal-able point and I felt so weak and powerless, and just knew it was gone and might not be findable and didn’t know if I’d get another very easily … but worked out. When we got to the mall we had to walk a fair way to get into the doors and then up to the theatre. When we first started out I suddenly felt hopeful, and as it goes, that’s about the exact time that someone turned my phone into the theatre management.

I sure prayed about my lost phone, talked to God about it, as well as beat myself up about losing it. So that hopeful spirit I had springing up as we walked towards the last place I had the phone was quite unexpected and not contrived, nor did I want to feel better about it, I really had felt awful about the whole thing and hadn’t been able to shake it away at all. Mysterious, that hope.