What’s lost is found again, in my own house

Two years. That’s how long I estimate the sack of dirty clothes sat hidden in the spare closet. My husband’s bag of work shirts in a dry cleaning bag.

I found it over the weekend when I went in the spare closet to search for art supplies for Olivia’s class project. Adding to the theme of this story, I could not find the big paper because I hid it so well under the living room sofa. 

As I was digging around the semi-messy area full of clothes, long-neglected wetsuits from a life before parenting, suitcases that also suffer from the same neglect for the same reason, a box of fabric in case one day I get a wild hair and learn to sew, and my beading supplies, I spotted the familiar green bag.

Could it be? I thought. Really? 

I peeked inside, but the first thing that hit me was the smell of musty shirts waiting to be laundered. Confirmation.

Claus’ habit had been to stuff dirty shirts in a bag, and let several bags accumulate before he made the trip to the cleaners. He no longer does this, but that’s what he was doing through 2015. Apparently, he forgot this one bag in the closet/storage area.

To be fair to him, it’s a cramped little area under the stairs; we added a closet rod on one side and we throw all kinds of other junk around on the floor. The ceiling descends diagonally because it’s under the stairs. In the very back, you have to bend over and remember not to stand up or you’ll hit your head. You can imagine it’s easy to not see clearly. 

He’s asked me several times over the past two years if I’ve seen this or that shirt of his. It was byzantine that we couldn’t figure out where they went. I knew, though, that if we were patient enough, they’d surface. 

I try very hard not to let things get cluttered, but in a house with a young child, that is a daily struggle. Over the years I’ve definitely lost and found things right here at home.

Speaking of, those art supplies. We had large pieces of cardboard (two by three feet) that I placed under the living room sofa last year. It is narrow in the spare closet, so they’d eventually droop if I stood them up vertically. I thought myself brilliant for using the space under the couch for that.

The craft kit with glue, glitter, and stickers is in the storage closet. I should have kept it together. I should have known that out of sight = out of mind. Who’s brilliant now? 

We already went to the store to buy her the big cardboard she needed for this presentation, when I chose to rearrange the living room. When we moved the sofa, guess what we found? Right. 

Oh well. Win some, lose some. We won a new bag of old shirts! And we’ll be so ready for the next class project. If I can remember where I keep the big cardboards.