The emotional roller coaster of lost and found

I cannot describe to you the knot of dread and disappointment that forms in the pit of your stomach when you realize that something you love is missing...and possibly gone forever. Shock and denial set in as you are faced with the reality of living without it. You feel lost, alone...as if you have lost a part of your very self; a limb, or perhaps a vital organ. The feeling eminates in waves originating in your stomach, then dispersing throughout the rest of your body, ending in a hot flash of panic.

What you feel upon discovering said lost object is quite the opposite; a hot flash of exhileration, and waves of ecstacy tingling all over your body until you are fully consumed in elation. Those who have stuck by me these last few weeks will know of what I speak, and no doubt will share in my exuberation over finding the filler of the dull and empty void that I have suffered through.

Yes my friends...I found my CD wallet.

All of my little babies in tact...and although suffering from heatstroke, appear to be in all other ways, unharmed.

They were hiding in the backseat of my dad's car, behind the large headrest, and only visible through the back windshield. How they arrived there in the first place, I do not care...all that matters is that they are home, safe and sound.

I would not have noticed them had I not forgotten my license and had to sit in the passenger's side of the car on the way home. (In the morning I'm much too tired to notice anything besides my blanket and pillow in the car). The sunlight caught it in it's light, and I stared at it, wondering if it was some sort of desert mirage. Surely I had hallucinated seeing my CD's in other places these last few weeks...even checking places I had already checked five times just in case they magically appeared. Places such as my glove compartment which is really too small to fit the CD's in the first place. I thought I had thoroughly searched my father's car...I thought wrong.

All the way home from work I hugged my CD's to my bossom...running my hands along the soft plastic which felt as if it had slightly melted from prolonged sun exposure...admiring it's faint sparkles hidden in the navy blue...flipping through all my CD's to individually assure them that I would never leave them again. I will be purchasing a child leash to ensure this.

It took me a good chunk of time to compose myself. My jaw was dropped down for the first quarter of the ride home. My father had to endure endless rantings of "I CAN'T BELIEVE I FOUND IT...I CAN'T BELIEVE IT...I'M IN SHOCK...I THOUGHT THEY WERE GONE FOREVER...YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW GOOD THIS FEELS...YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH I YEARNED FOR THEM...I CANNOT PUT IT INTO WORDS HOW HAPPY I AM TO HAVE FOUND THEM..."

Dad's response: "Well Lorraine, you can't take them to bed with you."

Yeah...we'll see about that.