The Missing One

"I am saying something about the ultimate mystery. You can understand it, yet you can never understand it totally. It is elusive, it escapes. It is within reach, but it is not within grasp. You are always coming closer and closer to it, but you never arrive."~ Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh

No, I'm not looking for love (found it, he's amazing, not going to lose that). Not searching for myself - I believe I've figured her out too. Fame, fortune - well, I've got things money can't buy so I'm good there. What else could I possibly be hunting for?

A sock. Yes, I said a sock. I have three kids playing soccer. The girls are on the same team, so they both have grey. Jacob has black. At any given time, there are five socks in the soccer bag. Somehow one manages to crawl out to assist in the never-ending quest to drive me crazy. Not that it's a long drive.

For those of you chomping at the bit to give me advice, yes - we have a system. Each of the kids has a 2 1/2 gallon ziplock bag that they are supposed to put their gear in this bag as soon as we walk in the house, dirty or not. Then these baggies go right into the awesome soccer mom duffle bag on wheels that fits all their gear and three soccer balls. It even has some room for snacks and Gatorade.

Well, the majority of the time, everything goes in but not everything comes out. Unless the baggie is a cloaking device, something always goes missing. A sock, shin guard, shin guard socks, a cup, shorts and sometimes even a shirt. How this happens when I watch them put everything in is still a mystery. The stuff always turns up in the strangest places. Under or in the couch, on the bookshelf, in their backpack. Never in the laundry basket though.

The best year was when they all wore orange. This worked out perfectly most of the time. One game Jacob played right after the girls. I was yanking the socks off Brianna while Jacob waited in bare feet and shin guards. Socks and shoes on and him off to the field in thirty seconds. Well, the don't call me the soccer mom for nothing...

I could just break down and buy an extra pair at the beginning of the season but that would be breaking the code. I can't live up to the supermom title if I cheat. Besides, the extras would walk off with the missing ones and that would frustrate me even more. BTW, the missing items also go for permission slips, library books, Awana uniforms and backpacks. And I don't even want to talk about shoes. We have six flip flops hanging on the door all the same foot.

So, one of these days I'll be sitting in a quiet house with everything where it belongs. The socks won't be on the bookshelf, the books won't be on the table and the table will be empty except for the centerpiece. The homework assignments and artwork will be packed in boxes in the attic and the fridge will only hold magnets instead of drawings and fingerprints. And I will be sitting in the quiet missing the chaos that is my life now, my babies grown and looking for their own socks. Until then you will probably find me tearing the room apart trying to find the missing one...

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