Day to Day happenings in my life

Lost

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This image of a bird in the long grass is titled ‘maybe I’m lost’. The advantage a bird has, and the reason he would never find himself lost, is his ability to fly. He’d simply take flight and get his unique bird’s eye view to establish his whereabouts.
I used to have a fear of getting lost. I think it stemmed from the absolute terror as a child when you realise you can’t see your mother. I remember that feeling once when I was on a beach. I was surrounded by hundreds of happy faces, but none that I recognised. My heart raced in my six year old body as I searched for a familiar face. People stopped my panicked run and asked me, “Are you lost little girl? Where’s your mummy?”
I think that’s why I always stop for a minute and take my bearings when I go to a strange place. Maybe it’s the shopping mall which has multiple entries. I always take notice of which is the closest store as I enter the mall.
As for losing my car, I’ve done it so many times when I’ve not noted which part of the car park, or which floor in a multiple story car park. Even though it’s been seventy years since that little girl was lost on that crowded beach, the feeling is still with me at times. I’ve been convinced my car has been stolen many times, only to find it after searching for an extended time.
Funnily enough in a foreign country I don’t fear being lost. I think that’s because everywhere is new, different, and I’m a tourist. I know that as long as I’ve remembered the name of my hotel I can always get a taxi back.
This once happened to a friend of mine when a group of us were camping in the sand dunes. She got lost in the dark. We had put a portable toilet tent a few hundred yards away from the tents. In the night she told her husband she was going to go to the toilet and to leave a light on. He was half asleep and thought she was back and turned off the hurricane lamp.
The poor girl got totally disoriented in the dark and lost her bearings. She was wandering around in the pitch blackness searching for the camp site. It wasn’t until someone in the group heard her shouting for help that she was rescued. Her husband was never ever really forgiven.