Misplacing Things

This is a short one, but no less important…

We all misplace things.  It's a fact of life, especially as one grows older.  I'm a creature of habit.  I have specific places for specific things.  When I can't find something where I thought I put it, I get annoyed. I get really annoyed when things I look for “grow legs”.  I haven't been diagnosed with any cognitive disability [yet], and I can't imagine what it's like for Carol to misplace something.  She doesn't misplace many things, but the things she misplaces are important.  The thing that gets misplaced most often is her purse.  She usually carries it with her wherever she is, including inside our house.  Sometimes she might misplace her cell phone, but it has an obnoxious green cover on it which makes it easier to find.  She’s getting more creative about the places she leaves the phone, but I haven’t had to tear the house apart looking for it [yet].  She misplaced her glasses case [with the glasses in them], but only once.  I had a good idea where she kept it, so it was easy to find.  That, and it’s flowery with about nineteen different colors on it. 😊

The first time she misplaced her purse, both she and I were pretty freaked out about it.  Her wallet is in her purse, and with that wallet is her driver's license (her only form of ID), her debit card, and credit cards.  The only saving grace was that she hadn't been out of the house, so I figured it had to be in the house somewhere.  It didn't turn up for a couple of days, so I went through the grind of reporting all the lost credit cards.  That part was easy compared to replacing a lost driver's license.  Here's a quick question - do you know your driver's license number?  Do you know where to find that number if you don't? Luckily, I found out.  I looked up my auto insurance on USAA and there it was.  Whew!  That might seem intuitively obvious to some, but it was a shot in the dark for me.  Anyway, after we got the new credit cards, I gave them to Greg for safe keeping.  He’s a good kid – he won’t abuse my trust.  Everything good about my boys comes from their mother.

Of course, after I ordered replacement credit cards and a replacement license, we found the purse.  There had to be a way to avoid this heart-stopping experience from recurring.  I told one of my co-workers about this, and he gave me an excellent suggestion - a GPS tracker.  He recommended one in particular - Tile.  There are other GPS trackers on the market, and I wasn’t sure which one to get.  When I least expected it, I found Tiles on sale at Office Depot.  I was there buying something else, and lo and behold, while I was in the checkout line, there they were for $25 apiece.  After reading the box, they were exactly what I was looking for.  I bought one. 

It’s easy to use – it’s absolutely Tony-proof.  Tile has a free app for your cell phone, and you can sync with it using the Bluetooth feature.  For an additional $25, you can subscribe to being part of a Tile network.  If you’re out of range of the Tile you’re looking for, other Tiles in your area can tell you where it is.  I added the boys and Mark’s girlfriend Vivi to my network.  Whenever I’m gone, they can track down a missing purse in my absence should the need arise.  We haven’t tested that capability yet.  Since I bought it, we haven’t lost Carol’s purse.  She temporarily misplaces it every other day, but since I put the Tile in her wallet [which usually doesn’t leave the purse], I can breathe a lot easier.  It’s amazing the piece of mind that $25 can buy.

This isn’t a paid advertisement for Tile.  It just happens to be the one I bought and fits the need to track valuable information.  I’m sure other GPS trackers work just as well.  The point is I’m glad my friend and co-worker made the suggestion because I was incapable of thinking outside the box at the time.  Thanks, Rich!