Being forgetful is not something I am proud of, but it’s something I deal with on a pretty recurring basis. It’s not about the big things, though. When it comes to timing, making plans to be and spend time around people I love, my brain just recognizes that as really important — and I think that’s great. However, when it comes to the small things, like where I’ve placed my keys, remembering something on the way out of work that I need, etc… I forget, and it’s a bad habit that I need to be more careful about moving forward.

Actually, now that I think about it, this entire past week, I have forgotten something each day — and it has either been something pretty big that made me need to reroute my plans a little, or something small that ended up eating away at me for hours until it was resolved.

When I visited my college alma mater this past week, I meant to go straight from work but forgot the plethora of bracelets that I had gotten in Asia and Central America for friends who were still around school. I had to make a trip back home before actually getting on my way. On Wednesday morning, I so conveniently forgot to bring the bag of bracelets with me to chapel, so I was unable to give bracelets out to people I knew I wanted to give them to. On Thursday, I went into work thinking I was supposed to be on, but it turned out I had written the date down in my planner wrong (oops!). Then, on Friday, I walked into the mall for work (a half hour early) and accidentally left my keys in the bathroom, forgetting them hanging on one of the hooks. I didn’t realize it until five hours later when I was leaving my shift for the day…

I immediately started to panic, thinking that someone could have stolen them. I searched and backtracked my steps for a half hour, trying to remember where I was earlier that day. I checked the restroom three times. I asked mall employees if any car keys had turned up, called security, talked to the cleaning people I was able to, and finally gave a security officer my phone number and information about what was on the keychain (a small purple elephant). He assured me that they would call if anything showed up.

Luckily, I was able to call my mom, who came to the rescue with my spare keys (something and someone I am eternally grateful to have in my life in more ways than I can express in words). I got home and after dinner, my mom talked through it with me. She reminded me of something I always seem to be telling her: That I did all I possibly could to let them know my keys were missing and there was no use worrying about it — to pray that the keys would somehow show up.

I now realize that not worrying tends to be so much easier said than done. However, once I finished the dishes for the night, I decided to let the bad thoughts go and pray that they would show up somehow.

Not even an hour later, I got the call. My car key, the house key, and the precious purple elephant keychain from Cambodia had shown up! Someone had grace and mercy, returning the keys they found.

Not only am I grateful for spare keys, but today I am grateful for a mom who listens and gives me my own advice. I am grateful for people who give things back to security and people who are patient and graceful with me, reminding me that all will be okay when I am in a state of panic.

This week has taught me a lot about my tendency to forget, and while that may be a flaw I have, I do not have to let that dictate how I move forward. The things I have learned this week due to my tendency to forget the small things are lifelong compared to the short term stress it causes me. Moving forward, I will now remember to place my keys inside my bag once I have locked up my car, so I don’t forget them again. When it comes to traveling places or seeing people, I love when I come bearing gifts, I will remember to pack the gifts along with the rest of my things, so I don’t have to make a longer trip than I need to.

While mistakes and forgetfulness are an inevitable part of life, we don’t have to move forward letting those things stop and hinder us from taking hold of opportunity to change it in the future. If anything, making a mistake just makes me want to try again, hoping for a better outcome the next time something bad or hard arises.