Monday, January 28, 2013

Lost

Do you like a good mystery?
I think we've all lost important stuff we wished we had back. Mine would be a bag of silver dollars that I collected as a kid. From time to time, my grandfather would flip me one. I carried them in a tan, suede pouch that my aunt had sent to me when she was teaching at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. It had a Southwest Indian motif on it, and I was so happy when I finally found a beneficial use for it, holding those special coins. There were about eight of them, and they just made a special, melodious clinking tone when I let them fall from one hand to the other. When we moved in high school, for some reason, I found an old loose floorboard in a third floor bathroom crawlspace and secured the coins there. I'd bring them out from time to time to check them out, but when we moved, I do believe I left them behind, sequestered away. Maybe in 200 years or so some kid will find them, and they'll be worth a lot of 'coin'. Until then, I'll just keep kicking myself. 
Now, there is another possibility that involves a now deceased college best friend, who came to visit just after graduation. That possibility I don't even want to conjure up.
For me, the mystery of these missing coins lingers.

20 comments:

  1. presque "perdu" dans la neige. Le rose ressort bien

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  2. there's a certain thrill in what's left behind, mixed with the sorrow of loss. just knowing someday someone will find what we've lost and imagining how their discovery will change their lives gives me a good measure of consolation.

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  3. Lost city cafe an appropriate backdrop for your story. I wonder why you would question the possibility of your "now deceased college best friend" at this late date. I think there's a story behind that comment, too. Incidentally, the colour of the cafe is quite distinctive!

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  4. Darn. No wonder you're kicking yourself. Makes you wonder if anyone has find those coins yet.

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  5. Can you go back to the house to see if they're still there?

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  6. Birdman -- A loss that cannot be replaced yet you still have those nice memories of your grandfather and his flipping a coin off to you. -- barbara

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  7. When we were kids and dad was remodeling our house, we talked him into putting a costume jewelry ring in a nice ring box behind the dry wall as he was closing it up. Every now and then I wonder if it's still there or if someone found it and thought it might be valuable.

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  8. oh, i had a loose floorboard in my childhood home where i hid stuff, too. so sorry you don't have that pouch of coins anymore!

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  9. Maybe there's someone somewhere, wondering why and how a pouch full of coins arrived here, and writing on his/her blog about the mystery of the things we find in our lifes...

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  10. oh man! pray to the saint of lost things, maybe he'll help ya out!

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  11. We seem to lose things around here constantly and only sometimes do they show up again. St Anthony helps once in a while!

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    1. I'm praying to St. Tony right now. Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze!

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  12. Oh dear! Well, I guess there's nothing you can do about it now.

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  13. Yes, one day perhaps the mystery maybe possibly solved, we hope. In the meantime, read some good mysteries where the cases are always wrapped-up in the end, you know, like in real life... wink, wink, nudge, nudge.

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  14. If you see one dated 1898, it's mine. I had about 10 silver dollars and don't even have a plausible explanation as to how I lost them.

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  15. That is a great image to pair with your story. My mom had a similar style bag for her coins and cannot locate it either!

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  16. Now it's gone gone gone, just like that loving feeling.

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  17. I like the 'lost treasure' to be found in future better than the other possibility Birdman...less disturbing and way more exciting!

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