Lost clothes at the school

Yesterday, Jesse told me he’d left his coat and sweatshirt at school. I wasn’t so upset about the sweatshirt left behind, but his COAT! He needs his coat for the mornings. There’s no snow here yet, but it’s very cold on these wintry mornings. I was upset he’d left his coat at school and I told him he’d have to bring it home tomorrow. And I reminded him about it again this morning when I dropped him off.

He got out of school early today so I drove over there to pick him up. I wanted to check and see if he had his coat. They have a 3-day weekend coming up and he was going to need his coat at some point before returning to school. (He only has one winter coat.) And when he came out of his classroom upon dismissal, I checked with him about it. No sweatshirt – and NO COAT! Ugh! He told me he’d forgotten about it.

So, we told his teacher the situation and went back into the school building to look for the clothes. The first place we headed was Lost & Found – where his clothes usually wind up if he forgets them. But this time, they were not there. I asked Jesse if he remembered leaving them anywhere and he couldn’t remember. So we checked his classroom next and they were not there. We also checked the reading area in the library and turned up nothing. We also saw his teacher again and reported our status. He talked with Jesse then said he'd keep an eye out for them.

In the past, Jennifer has left her clothes at the playground, so I suggested we check out there. We walked out to the playground and Jesse checked one area while I checked the other. No coat, no sweatshirt.

I was running out of ideas!

We went to the office and I told the secretary about the situation. I asked her if she had any suggestions on where else we could check. As she started thinking of another place to look, I felt somebody touch my arm to get my attention. I turned to see a lady I did not know. She pointed at Jesse and started talking. The only words I got were “Jesse” and “outside.” When she finished talking, I looked back at the secretary. Now, this secretary has known me for YEARS and she knew that look: I had not understood everything said to me. She pointed at the lady and repeated what was said, telling me she had noticed Jesse had left his sweatshirt and coat outside and she brought them in. I turned just to see Jesse following her out of the office so I hurried after them. As I followed along, I wondered if she was leading us to where they were. She was talking to Jesse as we walked and then looked ahead to continue walking off. Meanwhile, Jesse motioned to me to follow him down another hallway. This one led to his classroom. “Did she tell you where they were?” I asked as I followed him. He nodded yes.

Soon we were outside his classroom, where there were some tables near the door. And THERE were his sweatshirt and coat! “There they are! Yay!” I said as Jesse picked them up.

We let the secretary know we had recovered them as we left the office and I wished her a happy weekend.

I think it was so cool how we got his sweatshirt and coat back. It was like we were all in the right place at the right time. That lady had been there right when we were asking about the same sweatshirt and coat she had found. Awesome!

I will have to keep in mind asking at the office if we don’t have any luck finding lost items again in the future. Of course, we may not be so lucky next time, but who knows.