Tuesday, April 24, 2012

• "U" is for Underwear & Other Things Left Behind

I'm a live-in pet sitter. When I come to a client's house, I bring everything I need to stay one or more nights. When I leave, occasionally I forget something.

The underwear in question was a lacy black bra I left at the home of my friend Brenda. "Please, please find it before John does," I begged. "Or Arlo." What would be worse: her husband seeing my bra or her Samoyed, then a puppy, ripping it to bits? Luckily, Brenda found it and brought it to me one day at lunch.

After caring for Maltese BudDee and Maltese-mix CeCee, their mom, Marcia, sent me an email. "Do you own a pair of blue slippers? I found them wrapped up in the sheets." When my feet are cold at night I put on slippers or socks. Inevitably my feet get warm, I nudge off the footwear, and forget it. My next job, I found the slippers wrapped in tissue paper in a jaunty little shopping bag.

A similar mishap befell my earplugs when I spent two weeks with miniature Poodle Coco, in Arizona. (I pet sit for free in the Southwest and other locales.) Coco's mom, Gloria, found my orange plastic earplugs, which I wore when I had a hard time going to sleep, wrapped in the sheets. I told Gloria she didn't need to mail them but she insisted (at a cost of $2.70). God bless her.

I used to find this trait endearing: Silly me! But it can be a pain for my clients. They need to deliver, mail, or find a place for whatever I leave behind. So I try—I really, really try—to take everything home with me.

Despite my best efforts, I don't need to take facial cleanser to my next visit with Shelly and Lily: It sits in Chris's bathroom, where I left it two weeks ago.

2 comments:

  1. Adorable and entertaining post! Too bad pets can't talk...or they'd remind you as you were walking out the door! :)

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    1. Thanks, Jesstopper! I enjoyed your U post, too—it made me hungry and want to read the book, all at the same time.

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