It seems that life itself is one big lost-and-found department

Have you ever been to a big stadium or an airport and realized you have misplaced something? Upon being directed to the “lost and found,” one pours through dozens of items that have become separated from their owners. With any luck, the item that went missing might be found.

As we start the new year, I have had the chance to reflect on how our lives are like a perpetual “lost and found” for it seems with almost every loss, something new comes into our lives.

I adore babies. It is hard for me to keep my hands off a sweet, innocent little child. I want to hug and hold on every single one of them. They are so uninhibited, and their eyes are like sponges soaking up the world around them. It is fascinating to see them “find their toes” or watch them learn to crawl, and then walk. They have no cares, no fears and no thoughts of judgment or hate. Their world is what immediately surrounds them: their parents and family. How nice it would be to live one’s entire life in the security and tranquility of constant attention, afternoon naps, and exploration of all the world has to offer.

Eventually all this innocence is lost. Children learn, grow and develop, and want to expand their wings and explore more of the world around them. While some would decry the loss of childhood innocence, without the loss, there would no “found” in the freedom of receiving that first driver’s license, a first job, or a first apartment. There must be the loss of what we once enjoyed and treasured to get to the next step in life. Something in our life is lost, but then something is found to replace it. There is perpetual evolution.

For many of us, the happiest times of our lives are when we start our own family and having children of our own. The struggles and fears of pregnancy, the apprehension of labor, the lack of sleep and worry of dealing with a newborn are all minimized because of the joy of seeing our child brought into the world. We provide for our children, instruct them, teach them and mentor their development. Then one day we lose the child because it has grown up and the child goes away to school, or they marry, or perhaps they simply move away from the confines of their parents’ home. No matter the cause of the break, when a child starts behaving like an adult, a little something is lost for a parent. The joy of seeing the “adult child” prosper and witnessing the person they have become is the joy that is found.

We become comfortable with the present and want the inevitability of change to be pushed off for as long as we can. But change is always around the corner. Change is surely coming to our city and our state as we continue to grow. There will be changes in our jobs, in our relationships, and change in our life as we react to the inevitability and uncertainty of the future.

As 2021 disappears around the bend I cannot help but wonder what we will “find” in 2022, and the joys it will bring. No doubt there will be times when we look back on the loss with despair, but hopefully the uncertain future brings us joy and success that we cannot even begin to imagine.

Thought for the day: The best way to predict the future is to be part of creating it.

Until next time


sam@hcnews.com | 817-573-7066, ext. 260