Moms & wives: the only ones who can find things

If you’re a mom and/or wife, you’ve probably heard the following phrase, or something similar, at least once a day: “Hey, where’s the (fill in the blank)?”

Just last week, my husband John, our son Jacob, and I were enjoying dinner on our deck. After finishing his meal, John leaned back in his seat and said, “I’m still a little hungry.”

“There’s some leftover chicken from Sunday in the fridge,” I replied. He nodded and got up to go get it, but quickly returned saying, “I couldn’t find it.” I squelched a sigh.

I went into the kitchen, opened the refrigerator door, saw the plastic container with the clear white lid with the chicken up front, and returned to the deck with it. John sheepishly took it with a “thank you.”

It seems like moms and wives are the only ones who ever know where anything is. And I can’t even get mad at the other occupants in my house when these instances occur because I remember doing the exact same thing to my mom as a kid!

Growing up in our older home, Mom would often ask me to go down to our basement to get something from our pantry, which was a former coal bin. We had a tiny kitchen, so she had to store extra items in this bin – essentially a closet with a red checkered cloth curtain covering it.

Nine times out of 10, I wouldn’t be able to find what she was asking for. Mom would sigh, go down to the basement with me, and pluck the can/box/container from the pantry in about 10 seconds.

I think the reason this happens – and some of my girlfriends recently agreed with me – is that moms and/or wives are usually the only ones who put things where they belong. We know this is a novel concept.

Take another recent example from my husband. He also asked me last week where his sunglasses were. I replied that I hadn’t seen them … which meant I hadn’t seen them that day. What I failed to remember was that I had seen them a couple of days ago on our dining room table and I put them in the sunglass drawer.

When John finally went to said drawer and found them, I felt a bit guilty, but I realized I had been on autopilot when I had previously put them away. And I had also assumed when he asked about the sunglasses that he had looked in the sunglass drawer. I know, never assume, right?

Maybe moms and wives should be grateful about this “finding things” superpower … they say that sitting around too much is terrible for our health nowadays … so maybe this is just our family’s way of ensuring that we keep moving!

Amy Shankland is a writer and fundraising professional living in Noblesville with her husband John, two sons, two dogs, and a cat. You can reach her via email at amys@greenavenue.info.