Hey Friends, this is one picture from a senior portrait that Celestial just got done with. I think it’s pretty great. What do you think?

Ok! My wife and I are often described as forgetful, day-dreamy, absent minded, preoccupied, in-another-world, and perfect for each other. To be honest, part of me appreciates the terms but I think that the ones that use them are not intending them affectionately. But check this out:

When I went to leave after dropping my daughter off at school this morning I got only as far as my car door before I realized that it was locked and my keys weren’t on me. Maybe I left them in the classroom? I did the double check of my bag and my person—Not there! No!

They couldn’t possibly be in the car because I have a system to prevent this. Since I loose everything, I try simple habits that minimize otherwise inevitable losses. I don’t have the capacity to keep track of a cell phone, wallet, keys, gum, and a lap top (which I always need with me…especially the gum) and so I started sporting the man bag (picture on my flickr). The man bag houses all of said items. The man bag is attached to me. I take it off when I arrive. I pick it up when I leave. It is a safe guard, because, instead of remembering 5 important items—which I can’t—I remember one item: the man bag. If I take out an item, it is in my hand or back in the bag. There is no setting down, because, if it is, then that is an item that I have to remember. No! If it is not in my hand it’s in my bag.

They key can’t be in the car because the car is off. If the car is off then the key would have been in my hand and thus in the bag. But sure enough the key is sitting in the passanger seat and all the doors are locked. Apparently, when I put the key in the pocket of my bag, I missed the pocket and the key slipped down the side of the bag onto the seat where I had found it. Lame!

So my keys are locked in the car. I haven’t seen my spare key in months. I don’t have AAA, so I call Celest to pick me up. In the mean time I tried to track down a loving individual who would let me use their AAA. I found someone but then a bigger miracle happened. Celest pulled up and said that she remembered reading in Avonlea’s send home school bulletin that there was a set of keys that had been left at school and she had been wondering, for a while, if they were the back up set that she had lost. Since our lives don’t experience that kind of luck she hadn’t checked on the possibility. There wasn’t a chance, but I went to inquire anyway. I went back to the office where I had found a helpful individual previously and I popped the key question. And sure enough! The keys my wife had lost several months prior, the copy of the key that I locked in my car, was sitting in the administrator’s desk drawer. I am almost positive I heard the Hallelujah Chorus. It was an unbelievable moment. I was so excited, I think that people thought a lottery had been won. And I ran back to the car.

But my point of it all is not just that this was an awesome moment of relief in my life. This is a picture of the beauty of the modus operandi that my wife and I live in. She didn’t lose that key. She left it for a time in which I would need it. I didn’t lock my keys in my car. I simply brought about the opportunity to find our missing key. It really is a wonderful life and I fully embrace the adjectives that people have assigned to us. Call us what you will. There is a delightful method to the madness so bring it on.

I love how little I understand about technology. It actually provides a great deal of relational opportunity in my life: Instead of spending a minute with a friend who wants to show me how to work iChat, I get to spend ten. I am pretty bad.

But I don’t think it’s all my fault. I have definitely come to notice that electronics hate me. I am sure my iPhone will work fine for anyone. In my hands, however, it is a mystery of disfunction.

My wife is amazing. Electronics love her. She can figure out anything if she has an internet connections and 2 seconds. When I left this morning she had a killer photography business and no web site. When I came home she had chosen a name, bought a web domain, and built her own web site.

Let me make sure I explain this right. She doesn’t build websites! She wanted one, so she got online and figured out how to do it; and she built it for free. And it’s pretty sic. That’s my wife Celestial. Check out chatterboxphotography.com it’s pretty stinkin great.