Confession

Okay, I'm going to tell you a secret.  I go through Lost and Found bins, and sometimes I take things that I didn't lose.  I feel a little better getting that off my chest.  Here's the thing.  I'm really careful of my possessions. I wash my clothes carefully.  I get my shoes repaired.  I mend things.  And I also know that, for the most part, if I lose something or it breaks or wears out, it can't be replaced.  It's one of a kind.  If I went to big box stores and bought lots of interchangeable stuff all the time I might value my possessions less, but that's not how I work.  So when I lose something, I go back and look for it.  For example, I have two water bottles.  One I from Starbucks that I got with a gift card several years ago, and one big silver metal one that Lindsay left in my rental car in Boston, which used to belong to her ex-boyfriend.  I take one with me everywhere, and I can't tell you how often I leave them places.  Just this week at the yoga studio, in fact.  And often I'll leave one at the theatre.  But I always think about where they are and go looking for them.  Which is how come I might be browsing through lost and found bins, noticing that some of this stuff was here the last time I lost my bottle.  So obviously someone has forgotten about it and won't be bothered if I take it.  But don't you think that if individual items had more personal meaning to us we would be more careful of them, and less likely to misplace or break them?  Don't get me wrong, one of these days those bottles will go the way of the world, and I'll have to replace them or go without.  And that's fine; as much as I love collecting things I also try not to be too attached.  But in the meantime I will make them last as long as possible.  And if you happen to see me wearing a scarf that you recognize, yes, it probably is yours.