I spend a fair amount of time looking for my stuff. My phone is the most common item to go missing, followed by my keys, my coat, my glasses, my purse, and my cup of coffee. I live in a big house, and I tend to set things down without being fully aware of my actions. Finding my phone in the house is relatively easy because I can call it with the landline and triangulate my way around the house until I find it.

I confess that I have on occasion gone stomping around the house shouting, “Hey purse!” A much saner approach is having a designated spot in the mudroom to put it. Occasionally, however, I fail to follow my system, and I get in my daily exercise going up and down multiple sets of stairs and searching all the rooms until I find it, sometimes many days later.

My keys stay in my purse, so if I know where my purse is, I’m fine. The real trouble with keys was when I was a teacher. I had a big bunch of keys that it would not do to lose; and I also knew that I’m the type to suddenly realize that my keys are missing and have not the faintest clue where they might be. I solved this by having the keys on a lanyard that I either put around my neck or attached to my belt. I could lock and unlock things without ever disconnecting the keys from my person.

Some years ago I started using reading glasses. At first, I bought multiple pairs and kept a pair at every spot where I might sit down to read: the nightstand, the living room end tables, the kitchen table. Sometimes, however, I would end up with three or four pairs at one spot and none anywhere else. Eventually, I decided to use another lanyard. This was interesting when I also had keys around my neck; I have a collection of lovely necklaces and scarves, but heaven help me if I ever tried to wear one.

Lanyards are hard to find in my area, and the ones I do find are of poor quality. After one too many broken lanyards, I grabbed a strip of pink rickrack from my sewing basket and sewed it in place. I thought it nicely accented my red glasses. Most people admired my new look, but one friend really, really wanted me to accept an extra lanyard that she had. This lanyard was a sensible black one that would not attract the wrong kind of attention, perhaps.

When the pink rickrack got too grubby, I changed it out for a strip of the only other rickrack I had: gold glitter. On a recent airline trip, my glittery lanyard triggered the security alarm, and I had to step to one side while the lady ran her wand over my neck. Well, I might be a suspected terrorist, but at least I haven’t lost my glasses.