Pray to Saint Anthony

I am not religious, much less Catholic, but I gotta say, I'm ready to pray to Saint Anthony.   The wife misplaced her keys two weeks before we headed out west to see family.  We have both done a thorough search.  You see, losing that set brought us down to only one key for each of the cars.  It is not a problem to get copies of house keys.  And I knew it would be more to get a set of car keys, my God!  I thought I could just go to our local hardware store and get copies, but oh, no.   Cannot be done.  Both of the car keys have microchips in them.  As far as I can tell, both will cost between $115 and $160 to get copies. 



I feel partly to blame for the loss of the keys.  The wife is notoriously forgetting where she put very important things: said keys, license renewal papers, checks, etc.  Pre-Mozart I was able to keep her and her belongings pretty much in my peripheral vision and when she inevitably would ask where something was, I could generally put my hands on it within the hour (it does take a bit of thinking, trying to keep track of everything).  I've lost my touch post-Mozart.  It must be the lack of sleep.  When he was younger I called it baby-brain because really, and it made sense then because at that point I wasn't ever sleeping more than 4 hours in a stretch.  But while my sleep has ameliorated, my finding powers have not. 

Anyways, the fateful day of the lost keys was August 11th.  Prancer's birthday.  That morning Mme. Child came to pick up Mozart so we could spend some quality time with Prancer.  The Wife went out to run a few errands before the pick-up and was gone longer than I'd expected.  Much longer, and so when she came back I have to admit, I was in a snit, and rather than peripherally paying attention to things, I immediately went to take an overdue shower.  That was the last use of the keys.  She had to switch the car seat to Mme. Child's Jeep, but can't remember if she had to unlock the car to do so.  Can't remember where she put them.  Can't remember the last time she saw them.   We have both done multiple hunts.  But nothing.

And can I just say how nerve-wrecking it is to only have one key for each car.  Especially when one has a driveway in which one car is always blocking another.  Now whenever I see her keys I rush them to the designated basket.  She's temporarily misplaced them a couple of times, but we've averted true disasters so far. 

The other day someone mentioned that their kid will take the keys and do odd things with them.  I never really thought of this before and so another fruitless search ensued with me trying to think like Mozart.  But still, even though I did the search, I was thinking that cute little sweet little innocent Mozart wouldn't hide the keys on us.

Then tonight: The Wife comes home from work.  Keys dangling.  Mozart comes over to greet her and takes the keys, jangles them about for a minute or so, marches over to the kitchen cupboard, opens it, deposits keys, shuts it and walks away as if nothing had ever happened.  My peripheral senses were tuned into this, thank God!  About 30 seconds after he did this my alarm bell went off and I retrieved the keys.  I guess I should do another search for the Wife's original set because clearly, they could be ANYWHERE!

That said, I am posting the Unfailing Prayer to Saint Anthony.  As I say, I'm not Catholic, so I don't know what the 13 Paters, Aves, and Glorias are, but I figure someone out their must, and if you are that someone could you do all of that? Please?  I've said the rest of the prayer.  And I'll probably say it many more times until the keys are found ~ I figure it certainly can't hurt.

 Unfailing Prayer to Saint Anthony

Blessed be God in His Angels and in His Saints.  O Holy St. Anthony, gentlest of Saints, your love for God and Charity for His creatures made you worthy, when on earth, to possess miraculous powers. Miracles waited on your word, which you were ever ready to speak for those in trouble or anxiety. Encouraged by this thought, I implore of you to obtain for me the Keys of Mommy, Joi and the Boy. The answer to my prayer may require a miracle. Even so, you are the saint of Miracles.  O gentle and loving St. Anthony, whose heart was ever full of human sympathy, whisper my petition into the ears of the Sweet Infant Jesus, who loved to be folded in your arms, and the gratitude of my heart will ever be yours.
Amen. (Say 13 Paters, Aves, and Glorias)

Please let me know if you find them.  I'd be ever so grateful.