I used to be a scuba diver, but that was a long time ago. Long before kids, work, and the general responsibilities that seem to creep up on you as you age. But once upon a time I was. I think my last big dive was in the Bahamas with my sister where we fed an old grouper named Herman bits of bacon from the breakfast buffet. 

One piece of gear that I used to have as part of my diving kit was a dive light. Waterproof, drop-proof, and bright enough to light up a cavern 40 feet underground, it was also a very useful flashlight for around the house. It had a nice handle, so it was easy to hold and point where you wanted it, and it was compact enough to use in fairly tight spaces. Which I did a lot. Until one day I couldn’t find it. My best flashlight went missing. I racked my brain for where it could be. I started thinking back to the last time I had used it. Was it a dive, searching the garage, or a project at home?

And then a memory entered my brain. A memory of using the flashlight to install a new recessed light in our laundry room, around the time Abby was born. The thing is, the memory is of me using the flashlight, not of me retrieving it from above the ceiling. So I was ninety percent certain that I’d set it down above the drywall, forgotten it was there, and then proceeded to install new cabinets, drywall, and trim, completely blocking any chance of retrieving it. 

Every now and then, I’ve told Kim that I wanted to cut a small hole to see if I was right. And I finally got my chance this week. As part of a new renovation, we needed to remove the ceiling in the laundry room. Twelve years later, there just resting on top of the drywall was my old flashlight. Batteries were of course dead, but otherwise you wouldn’t know it had spent a decade hidden away.

So now with the mystery solved and my dive light back in action again, who knows, maybe I’ll find the time to take up scuba diving again. Or maybe I’ll just put the light to use in a few more home projects. Wait, I’ve got a better idea. With the sun setting so early, I have less time to get out in my garden, but I’m thinking that with my bright light, I can do a little midnight planting. Who’s with me? We can start a new trend, Gardening by Moonlight. I’ll just have to make sure not to set my flashlight down in another mysterious location.