T minus 3 days

As I was laying in be in the morning, before actually waking up and starting my day, I realized that I had not packed my cleats and that one of my water bottles was missing. Eventually, I got up, went downstairs, ate breakfast, and went to go get my cleats. I knew exactly where they should have been, but they weren't there. So I had two things missing. There were only so many places where these things could be, so I just started looking. I looked through the stuff in my room. I looked through the stuff I had packed. I looked through the stuff I just put in storage. I opened up all the suitcases and boxes with things from winter quarter. I looked upstairs; I looked downstairs. I looked in boxes; I looked in bags. I looked in cupboards, cabinets, and closets. I turned the house inside out, and I called everyone I know whom I could have left them with, but to no avail.  

I literally spent hours searching for these two things. You might be thinking - don't you have better ways to spend your time three days before leaving for Oxford and two days before your brother's bar mitzvah? Yes, there were a bunch of things I had to do - more packing, practice my torah portion, check my travel documents, help my parents with things, etc. and I did them all. I would look for these things for a bit, and then I would take care of something important, each time figuring that if i just cleared my head a bit, I would be sure to find them the next time I looked. Well, each time I didn't. 

You might be thinking - don't you have another water bottle and another pair of cleats? are these things really worth the ridiculous amount of time you spent looking for them? The answers are yes, yes, and no. However, I really have a lot of free time these days. Also, and this is the main thing, I almost never lose things, so it really bothers me when I do. I usually know exactly where all my things are, and I can usually remember pretty well what I last did with them. But I have absolutely no idea where these things are right now. I have all the other shoes that my cleats should be with. I have my other Nalgene, which I always use at the same time as its black partner. The last time I used them was on my Death Valley trip, and I have no idea how they got separated. 

After spending the whole day, on and off, looking for these two stupid things, I drove over to Goodwill, thinking maybe my dad somehow took my cleats there along with some of his old suits. After that proved, unsurprisingly, unsuccessful, I basically just gave up. So I have no idea where they are. Maybe they'll show up one day, and maybe their stories will remain a small mystery for all time. 

In other news, my aunt, uncle, and cousins came from Israel last night. They were supposed to show up around noon. After six or seven hours, we started to worry and called my other aunt. When she heard that they weren't here, she started worrying too. We looked online. Their flight out of Orlando early that morning had been canceled. Eventually my aunt got ahold of them, and they were a few minutes away from our house. They showed up safe but tired, and there was much rejoicing. 

Tomorrow, if I have time for a post, I'll put up some pictures of my absolutely adorable, 9-month-old baby cousin Adar. None of us over here, except my dad, have met him before, so it's a fun time. He is the happiest, smiliest baby I have ever seen. Pretty much the only times he is not smiling or laughing are when he is hungry, thirsty, tired, or sleeping. He doesn't really talk yet, but he can crawl around and teeth on things (or fingers). I'm not sure why, but he's adorable and fun.