Habits we hold on to

I set out with the dogs shortly after Heather went to her all-day workshop at Centered on Wellness. They were tugging on their leashes eager to get going while I draped over my neck a set of binoculars and my camera. I was equally eager to get going and return to a spot we discovered the other day on the north side of the diversion canal, an area of forest and meadows largely untouched.

Once we got to the park just three blocks from our house, I let them off their leashes. There was absolutely nobody around as the morning had all of a sudden turned cloudy and windy. We love letting them run around in the fields when we are on our own. If people are present, we tend to keep them on leash until we're in the forest.

So they are running around and I'm already scanning the sky for birds. At some point I saw two of the larger variety and I grabbed for the binoculars. They bumped up against my glasses, which always annoys the crap out of me. I quickly took them off and lowered them to my chest, held in place by their two arms gently pressing up against both sides of my neck. By the time I got the binoculars back in place, the birds in question had flown off.

As we crossed the road bridge that goes over top the diversion canal I spotted another bird up in the tree and once again grabbed the binoculars, by this time completely forgetting that my eye glasses were loosely dangling on my chest. 

It was about five minutes later, as we were about to descend into the meadow area that precedes the untouched forest path, when I grabbed for my glasses. They were gone. 

"Shit", I muttered to myself.  

As Coco and Shay meandered through the tall wet grass, I started retracing my steps. I went everywhere in the immediate area where I rationally surmised that they might have fallen off. No luck. I widened the search to the road and its environs that passes over the diversion canal. Still nothing. Then we made our way back over the dandelion laden field, though I seriously couldn't recall having taken my glasses off that early in our walk. Nothing.

I walked the dogs home, as by this time it was starting to rain hard and I didn't feel like getting wet. I grabbed my raincoat and the car keys. I thought that driving to the park would save me some time and a few steps. I retraced our journey, twice, and still came up empty. By this time, I was getting resigned to the fact that I might have lost a very expensive set of prescription glasses.

A lunch of homemade soup, a short nap and a drive into Okotoks to get some supplies and I was feeling thoroughly discombobulated. 

Let's give it one more try, I thought to myself. 

I leashed Coco and Shay up one more time. Again, they were super excited to go for a second walk. Again, there was nobody in the park and I was able to let them off their leashes. We followed our footsteps, through the field of dandelions, across the road over the canal, and into the forest area. 

I was almost ready to give up again when I looked down and saw the glasses, sitting on top of a rock.

There was no way I would have missed that on my previous two searches. It's clear that someone had found them and decided that propping them on a rock would be their best chance of being returned to their owner. They were right.

For the record, I have done this before, several times. Whipping off my glasses and propping them on my chest is a habit that I hold on to when I grab for the binoculars. It's a habit I need to break, before I lose my glasses for real.