I'm not making this up, and to the best of my knowledge I am reasonably sane; still, take what follows with a grain of salt. In my blog not so long ago, I mentioned that immediately before departing for a vacation, I misplaced my car keys. I sat in the driver's seat, reached into my pocket, and . . . . no keys. I did a cursory check of all the places I may have set them down while packing, etc, and found nothing. I looked on the ground around the car. I checked my pockets. Nada. Time was running short, so I borrowed my wife's keys, expecting to find mine when we returned. When we returned I did a thorough search of the car, the house, even the yard. Nothing. I recalled that I had used the a key on the ring to unlock and adjust the roof rack, so began to think I had set them down in frustration while doing that (the adjustment didn't work) and maybe left them on top of the car. But I had briefly considered that before departure and did a cursory check up there, but maybe I didn't see them. The keys have a AAA tab on them with a member code and a message that says to drop them in any mailbox and AAA will mail them to the member. So I held out that feeble hope, assuming they had fallen off the roof at some point during the drive. Today -- more than a week after losing the keys and two days after being home -- I felt something in my back pocket, behind my wallet. My keys. The obvious explanation is I shoved them in there during the hectic and frustrating moments before departure, though I've never done that before and it would have taken a lot of conscious effort to do it. And I never store my keys in my back pocket because they would be uncomfortable; still,perhaps I didn't notice, perhaps I didn't feel the odd bump at my butt as I drove for 7 hour each way plus our daily drives. And I used my wallet several times on my trip, pulling it out for credit cards and ID, etc. And should have found them at those times. But maybe I did accidentally put them in there and never felt them and they never fell out when I pulled out my wallet. Except . . . . Except I changed my jeans at least once during the trip. Meaning I would have had to transfer the keys from the old pants to the new. I find it hard to believe that even I am that absent-minded. And I don't think my wife had either the desire or opportunity to gas light me about that. So. . . . It turns out there are websites devoted to this issue, which is often dubbed the DOP -- "Disappearing Objects Phenomenon." There are lots of theories floating around, from the obvious of forgetfulness or intervention (innocent or malicious) by others; there are poltergeist theories; there are other dimensional/warp theories; there are even faerie theories. I don't usually put a lot of stock in the paranormal or the like, though I used to do the I Ching and have an affinity for the idea of synchronicity, e.g. "meaningful coincidences." I guess, assuming that forgetfulness and other-human intervention are ruled out, I lean toward some mixture of synchronicity and interaction with some deeper, non-linear, aspect of reality. I know that I even mumbled a prayer saying if these turned up I would never doubt again, though I'm not exactly sure what or who it is I won't doubt (though I have a vague understanding). Anyone else have this sort of experience? Anyone else have any ideas? So far as I know I haven't gone off the deep edge, but so far as I know the keys were gone and then re-appeared. GL
This is very interesting. It reminds me of something very strange that happened to me. When I was younger, I did the Tarot a lot. At some point I even drew my own deck and I had it printed and usable. Nothing fancy, but it's my own. Anyway, I used a Marseille deck for readings. One day I was going to use it when I realised the Devil card was missing. Goes without saying, I looked everywhere. There aren't that many places a card could end up. No other card was missing. The deck had been kept in the same place for years. I always put it away nicely and carefully packed after every reading. The deck was not just lying around scattered. The next time I did a thorough clean up at the house I looked for that card everywhere, even under heavy furniture. I always thought the card would show up somewhere. More than ten years later, the card has not shown up again. It simply vanished. Some people I told about this disappearance jokingly replied that this was a sign for me to start using my personal deck, the deck I drew. And sure enough, I started using my own deck. The Devil card on my personal deck hasn't gone anywhere yet. I hope it stays put. To this day I can't explain the disappearance of this card. I always thought it would show up in the strangest of places, but after all this time it should have appeared somewhere by now. I'm sure I've had similar experiences but this one puzzled me the most. I can't find an explanation, natural or supernatural. I'd more readily believe a playful fairy pulled a prank on me. I'll shut up now before people think I'm crazy.
Thanks for sharing that. At least I got my keys back. I don't think you're crazy or that I'm crazy, but my wife's beginning to think in terms of "senior moments."
