Alles ist Verlassen

I tackled the shed today for my missing box. Some of you teachers out there, or former teachers, might appreciate how much stuff teachers accumulate. Packing up a classroom and moving it into a shed results in lots and lots of boxes. I went into the shed determined to find my missing clothing tub! I tackled each tower of boxes, each neatly labeled and color coded. Blue writing meant it was teaching things that I would not need at all unless I was back in the classroom. Red writing meant that it was things that I could use, maybe, someday, even without being in a classroom. Green writing meant that even though it was for teaching, I would like to be able to access it for personal use. But somewhere in this organized system is a missing 0-3 month box, so where to begin.

I unstacked the front-right tower...mostly fragile kitchen items that I don't have room for in my current kitchen (crystal, fancy serving dishes, etc.). Lo and behold, the tower behind it has an unidentified green tub at the very bottom of the pile! There it is!!! Woohoo!! Now I just have to get past the 7 boxes stacked on top of it. The first couple are pretty lightweight teaching file boxes. Then we get into the heavyweights. 2-2ft x 3ft teaching book boxes. Underneath that, 2-2ft x 4ft boxes labeled "Novels". I used to measure how many books I had in my classroom by the 6 bookcases they filled. Now I measure how many books I have by how many pounds they weigh! Those were a struggle to unload, but I finally reached the mystery green tub. I pried open the cover..... A labyrinth, marble set, Mancala game, and other various games I used in my classroom... NOOOOOOOOO!!!!

I would have given up and come inside and finished my quest another day, but I couldn't get out! Those big boxes were now totally trapping me inside the shed! The only way out was to stack them all so nicely and neatly back where they were. So, I began again! And lifting those big boxes onto the pile was a lot harder than letting them slide down the pile in the first place. I figured the worst thing that would happen is that it would send me into labor, which wouldn't be such a bad thing.

When I finally finished my towers, there was still no baby box. I had looked at every single box out there. So, I'm not sure what happened. We have moved since I used that box last, and I can't remember where it ended up. We only have bedroom closets and the shed, so it might be gone for good! I feel as though my search has been pretty thorough.

At least I know where to find my big class-size box of rulers, protractors, and compasses should the need for them arise.