A Balance of Knowing

Like every other family, especially those with small kids, we lose things. Game pieces, school papers, parts for toys…stuff like that.

Something I’ve noticed recently is that we seem to maintain a consistent number of lost things, though the things themselves change from day to day.

A couple of nights ago, I found one of Cub’s toys that had disappeared last week, but yesterday, I couldn’t find one of his shoes. The shoe turned up, but now one of Mrs. Cat’s handbags is off on its own recognizance. I’d misplaced the first book in a series I wanted to reread, and in searching for it, found another book I’d lost track of during our move.

It makes me wonder: if we reduced the amount of stuff we have, would we hit some ideal point of equilibrium where nothing else would get lost?

The whole situation reminds me of this great quote from The Zero Effect:

“When you go looking for something specific, your chances of finding it are very bad. Because of all the things in the world, you're only looking for one of them. When you go looking for anything at all, your chances of finding it are very good. Because of all the things in the world, you're sure to find some of them.”