Ambien?

The first thought I had this morning was, "Where is my wedding ring?"  I remembered going to bed with it on, so it struck me instantly that it wasn't on my finger.  I went to my bathroom sink, wondering if maybe I'd taken it off when washing my face the night before, possibly remembering incorrectly that I'd had it on when I went to bed.  It wasn't there.  I went to my pinch pot by my kitchen sink, another place I put it sometimes.  Nothing.  To make a long story short, I began ripping my house to shreds looking for it, because I had a thought: I took an Ambien last night for the first time in a long time.  Remembering some of the crazy things I've done on Ambien, I realized I could have flushed it down the toilet, or something equally scary, without even knowing it.  Remember, I've had full-on conversations I don't remember having, even ordered food from the Walmart pick-up, all after I "remember" rolling over right after taking it.  To say I was a basket case would be an understatement.

By 10:00am, I was in a state of absolute panic.  I'd pulled everything out of my kitchen cupboards, even going so far as to sift through the sugar and flour-- because Ambien induced mania is real, my friends.  I had looked through couch cushions, looked in all nooks and crannies in everything that opens or has space for things to be placed, and even disassembled my Roomba and vacuum, in case I had vacuumed in the night.  Well, the Roomba vacuums in the night for me, but it is not out of the realm of possibilities that I vacuumed myself, since vacuuming is my favorite chore of all I do.  I could not find my wedding ring anywhere!

I sat down with my phone as a reference to remember exactly what I'd done the day before, just in case my memory of going to bed with it on was incorrect.  It proved to be so.  I looked at my calendar, and then read all of my incoming texts from the previous day, remembering what I was doing when I read each one.  And then it hit me, I had taken a walk around the neighborhood, needing to switch my wedding ring to different fingers as they swelled, at times holding it in my clenched palm a few times.  What if I dropped it by accident?!?!

As I prepared to walk the exact route I'd taken the day before, planning to keep my eyes to the ground as I methodically searched, I knelt to pray before walking out the door.  As I ended my prayer, a thought came into my mind: Remember the bird.  After my walk the afternoon before, I sat on the bench out front to cool down.  I was sitting for about 5 minutes before a movement on my lawn caught my eye.  It bird was trying to fly, but couldn't.  It had been still for so long!  My eyes had passed over it many times, never even seeing it at all before it moved.  That bird was dying before my eyes.  I watched it take what I now know was it's last breath, before getting a bit creeped out and fleeing inside.  Instead of walking the entire route from start to finish, ending at that bench, I decided to check the bench first.

And there it was, shining in the mid-morning light, waiting for me-- can you spot it?!  I must have taken the ring off and placed it on my lap, but because of the bird and the creepy feelings it gave me, I forgot all about my ring as I practically ran in the house.  I would have been a mess the longer I walked on the route I'd taken, each minute passing without finding the ring.  Because of the thought put into my mind, I started first at the last place I'd go, and found it right away.

I am embarrassed to say that the whole thing was completely and totally my fault.  I was so distractedly careless!  I should never have worn my ring on my walk, I should never have taken it off when I was walking or resting, I should never have, I should have ____ instead, I should have ___ instead.  But it does strengthen my conviction and testimony that we have the ability to have personal revelation, Heavenly Father does answer our prayers, no matter how insignificant and small, and that prayers do not have to be big for them to be considered magnificent and fantastic.  In a garden that has millions, even possibly billions of rocks, I found my tiny ring, sparkling and winking at me in the blinding light of the sun.  The power of prayer is real.