Mystery of the Lost Remote Control

If I had a dollar for every time I lost something, I’d be at least $500 richer. The frustration of a missing item is bad enough, but the real struggle is the mental "itch"—I simply can’t focus on anything else until the item is found.

 

Take our camcorder remote, for example. After three weeks of searching, I gave up and asked my brother, Russ—an eBay veteran—to "Buy It Now" for me. We hadn't used the camera in a year, and I suspected it might have been left at a family reunion. I figured it was a lost cause.

 

Naturally, two days after Russ bought the replacement, I had a "Eureka!" moment. I remembered a specific box from 2008, back when I was recovering from foot surgery. During my recovery, my office was moved into my bedroom, and my small desk items—including that remote—had been swept into a nursing home storage box during the move back.

My memory is funny that way. I can’t remember what I ate for lunch yesterday, but I can "rewind" a year to find a remote. It’s the same with names; I once spent an hour lying in bed reciting the alphabet just to remember my cousin's son, Adam.

 

Does your memory ever go on strike like that? Do you use the alphabet trick too? If so, welcome to the club!