The Case of the Missing Black Box

I know it's been a while, and please forgive me for my absence. In the wake of a very disappointing election (for which I can only hope America doesn't regret), I wasn't quite sure what to write about. It's funny how there is so much build up and then "pfflllluuufff", a big let down (kind of like a whoopee cushion deflating).

So I've spent the last week of in mourning. OK, not really. I've actually been quite busy planning an event for camp that went off with a bang this morning, and was fantabulous. We decided to host an event just for our campers and their friends to thank them for trusting us with their summers. With between 75-100 people there, I'd say most of our campers from last summer were in attendance and having a blast. "Fall into Camp" was a huge success. Yay!

But that's not the point of my post. What could have possibly driven me out of my blogging black hole? Yes, it's the case of the missing black box. What black box you ask? Let's just say that I don't leave home without my black box, at least not if I'm going shopping. Inside this box of wonder are hundreds of little scraps of paper alphabetized by product name and worth (at least to me) an infinite amount of money. If you know me at all, you have just gasped at the revelation of what I've lost...my coupon box. I know I had it on Tuesday when I was shopping for the camp event, but I haven't seen it since. I figured it was sitting innocently in the back of Neil's truck, but quite disappointed when he came back empty handed. Literally, it has vanished. The only thing I can think is that I left it in the cart at Target, but I just can't imagine how I could have done that. It really is an epidemic for me. Some people don't understand why I even bother. They should have been with me on Friday when I swung by the store to pick up a few items. All I could see were the items I could be getting for free with the coupons I couldn't find. It was depressing, and I couldn't even enjoy the fact that I was down a kid (Owen was at school).

Luckily Saturday comes every week, and with it comes the paper filled with coupons for me to clip. Normally, I'm excited to sit down and start cutting, but tonight it was tainted with a hint of sadness (mourning even). Tomorrow I'll swing by Target in hopes that some cart guy didn't throw away my little black box. Of course I can't even guarantee that it was in fact there that I lost my precious friend. Wow, I type the word "precious," and all of a sudden am catapulted into a scene from "Lord of the Rings." I think I can now sympathize with Gollum and his torturous loss. Now if they are gone forever there is only one thing to do...buy a new box, alphabet dividers, and start sorting the fresh cut coupons sitting next to me as I type. But when do you let go? Inevitably it is in that moment of weakness, when I've sorted the last General Mills coupon and am about to walk out the door on the way to the store, that my other black box will simply "show up." You know that's how it goes. It is the "oath of all things lost." Don't believe me? What happens the second you go out and buy a pair of sunglasses after you lost your old ones? Just ask my friend Clare...of course when she loses them, they are normally at my house with the rest of them, but that's not the point.

There...I feel much better now. I've vented, gotten it all off my chest. If anyone see my little black box, please send it home to me. I promise I'll throw a "prodigal box" party.