I know I tend to have a reputation for….misplacing things. I try not
to talk about it at work because nobody really wants a CFO who loses important things. But most of my friends know this about me
because they spend a not-insignificant portion of our friendship rescuing me
from leaving items behind me.
That tendency is exacerbated when I’m out of my
routine. And “out-of-your-routine” is
actually the tagline of the mission trip to Ecuador. There is nothing routine about taking off with
27 of your closest friends people you see at church, to an equatorial
country for a week of camping and crafts.
So I knew I was bound to lose something.
I did NOT expect it to be during the plane ride from Nashville, before
we even made our first connection. But true
to form…..that damn airplane seat-back pocket got the better of me. When they make the movie of my life, my
arch-enemy is going to be the seat-back pocket of an airplane. I don’t know why I bother putting anything in there, given how often I forget it's there. I might as well just throw it in the trash
when I get on the plane and save myself the anxiety of trying to recover my
pocket offering. This time it was my
water bottle. That seems like something
I’m going to need ON THE EQUATOR. [sigh] Luckily, I was able to play the missionary
card and beat my way back on the plane to recover the single most important
thing I packed.
Then I proceeded to spend about 60% of my entire trip
rummaging through my luggage looking for something I had misplaced or couldn’t
remember if I packed. Seriously, like
half the photos of me on this trip are me with an arm stuck in my backpack frantically
trying to make physical contact with my passport. In true McC fashion, despite occupying a
total of 80 s.f. of accommodations, over the course of the first two days I
managed to misplace the following items (in order of importance):
- My ballcap (that’s right, you think water is important – but not seeing my barely-washed hair in 100% humidity is even more important)
- Aforementioned water bottle
- Sunglasses
- Every ounce of sunscreen I had brought
- And for just a few minutes….the only pair of sandals I brought (before realizing they were on my feet even though I had just gotten out of bed)
Most of it turned up eventually, but usually right after I
needed it. Like....I inevitably found the
sunscreen at 9 o’clock at night and then generally managed to lose it again
before lunch the next day. It’s a
talent.
Funny story about the sunglasses though. I was trying to be super careful about keeping an eye on them – because…..sunburn of
the corneas and all that. So in my
version of extreme care, I left them sitting out on the table so I would always
have an eye on them…..until I didn’t. I
mean…I have lost a cell phone I was talking on before…so I guess misplacing
sunglasses that I thought were in my room wasn’t toooooo unexpected.
After turning my room upside down for about an hour, I gave
up on it and just figured I had made another offering to the patron saint of
lost items (who should really be sending me Christmas cards by now). Luckily I had a backup pair
because…well….Maeve.
Then later that day, I saw Frannie rocking a pair of sunglasses that looked
an awful lot like mine. Frannie is one
of the Episcopalion priests that was on the trip with us (does that make her
“Father Frannie”? This non-catholic priest thing is so confusing). Now….I’m not sure…but I think accusing a priest of
stealing your sunglasses is bad karma. Rather than coming right out with the
accusation….I decided to drop by the dormitory to just ask around. Once I got
everyone’s attention, I was able to ask my question: “Has anyone seen a pair of sunglasses?” .... [McC picks up the sunglasses sitting on top of Frannie’s hat]....”that
look EXACTLY like these? No, no….I mean
EXACTLY like these.” To which Frannie earnestly
replied….”do you wear Warby Parkers too?”
And I said….”nooooo…mine are Nike….like THESE.” I will say….they did look exactly like
Frannie’s sunglasses. So aside from
having twice as many sunglasses as she arrived with, I could see why she made
that mistake. And they were only missing for
like a day, so don’t worry Father Frannie - I’m sure that sun blindness
couldn’t possibly be permanent.
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