A Prayer Heard

My Mom was distraught. Her hearing aid was missing. Yup. The newly upgraded edition that had involved several trips to the hearing clinic. Mom had removed it earlier and placed it in her pocket. Werther’s candy wrappers happened to be in her pocket also. When the wrappers were tossed into the garbage, Mom thought the hearing aid went along for the ride. Yet, she hadn’t found her device after two thorough searches through the garbage. Nor had I when I searched through the trash.

I decided to comb the front and back yard on the off-chance the hearing aid might have fallen from her pocket earlier. Her neighbour lent me a wand like the kind used  at airports. It alarmed! Could I have found the hearing aid? Nope. The metal snaps on my cargo shorts apparently set it off.

I spotted something among the pebbles. Looking closer, I realized it was a snail.

I thought I saw it on the patio. Nope, it was a small stone.

Wait! Was that it in the mulch?

Nope, again! It was a different snail.

I was determined to find the hearing aid for Mom. I’ve had forty years of finding lost contact lenses under my belt.

Contact lenses are a lot smaller than hearing aids. I reassured Mom I would find it.

I looked everywhere. My Mom’s place is immaculate and tidy. Still, I couldn’t find it anywhere. I told Mom I was heading to the garage to look through the big garbage can one last time. This would be the fourth time between the two of us.

I saw something stand out on the garage floor mat.

No! It was just a leaf. I was getting discouraged.

And, then there it was!

Wrapped in a tissue… I hit the goldmine!

Walking back in the house, Mom said,” You didn’t find it, did you?” She looked dejected.

“I’m the winner! I found it!”

I showed it to her proudly.

“Oh, bless you, thank you!”

“Don’t thank me, Mom. I prayed to St. Anthony. He deserves all the credit.”

I used to think St. Christopher who was the patron saint for lost objects. Then, one day I realized I was wrong when I read on-line about a quick prayer for St. Anthony:

“Tony, Tony, turn around!”

There is a longer version of which I have no recollection. An intermediate version is:

“Good Saint Anthony look around, something’s lost and must be found. Please help me find [insert thing being sought].”

I stuck to the shortest prayer. It reminded me of how the three shepherd children in Portugal used to say their prayers before they were visited by the Virgin Mary. They would just say the two words “Hail Mary” instead of reciting the entire prayer. That endeared them to me. I could relate. Apparently, my short prayer was heard by St. Anthony.

Mom was happy now. I was happy. I’m pretty sure St. Anthony was happy, too. I told Mom her next upgrade would be a neon pink hearing aid just like what all the cool hard-of-hearing kids sported these days. It’ll be easier to find!