Brendan's Great Find

My little brother is excellent at finding things. I remember when he was barely three years old and I had lost my hair bow. Looking everywhere and finding nothing but more frustration, I had turned to Brendan out of desperation and said, "I don't suppose you know where my bow is?" To my surprise, he understood me and cheerily replied, "Over dere". Pointing and walking over to a spot I had passed more than once, he picked up my bow and held it in the air. I was dumbfounded. Over the years, the scenario has played out multiple times. My almost daily question, "Has anyone seen my...?" is heard so often, my family is surprised I haven't lost my own brain yet. Still, my brother has proven himself an excellent finder. I often think that when God decided to give me a little brother, He must have said, "Hmmm, Laelia loses things frequently, I should make her new brother good at finding things". And so, Brendan was born. Now that he is almost thirteen, he has figured out how to use my scatterbrainedness to his advantage so when I ask him to help me find lost items, the first thing he asks is, "How much will you pay me?" Darn.

Lately, I have had reason to admire his amazing finding ability even more. A few days before Christmas, Brendan and I were sitting on the couch together, watching an old episode of Captain Planet on my laptop. He was slightly fascinated by the cartoon that I grew up watching, but was absentmindedly stuffing his hands between the couch cusions. Suddenly, he pulled out a red bracelet and dangled it in front of my face.

"Hey! Where did you find that?" I asked, shocked and happy to see the bracelet Brendan had made especially for me. It disappeared a few months ago and I was too embarrassed to tell him I lost the gift he had worked so hard on making.

"I was just reaching my hand down between the cushions and here it is." He grinned mischievously and added, "I was looking for money."

We both laughed and I told him, "Thanks. I've been looking for that for months."
Brendan shook his head and said in a mock-disgusted voice, "Thanks, Laelia, losing the bracelet I made just for you...How could you? I see, you just didn't like it." I protested that of course I loved it, but he ribbed me about it more until we were both laughing again.
Still impressed at the ease with which he found my bracelet, I remarked, "You have always been so good at finding things. I don't know how you do it."
"Maybe I should hire myself out to people," Brendan said joking. He motioned with his hands to add emphasis to his claim, "I can find anything! Can't find your jewelry? I will find it! Can't find your grandma? I will find her!"

I laughed so hard. "Your grandma!?"

He was on a roll by this time and said dramatically, "I am now going to find the meaning and purpose to life!" He reached his hand down between the couch cushions and started searching around with a big grin on his face.
Laughing even harder, I said, "Now THAT would be amazing! People spend their whole lives looking for the meaning and purpose of life. Most people never find it." Brendan pulled out a folded yellow post-it note and started to unfold it. Raising my eyebrows in doubtfulness, "If you found the answer in the couch written on a post-it note, I would be really amazed." I said, still chuckling at his antics.

Brendan looked at the paper and read out loud, "The Pursuit of God".

I stopped laughing.

"You're kidding me. It doesn't say that." I said and leaned closer to read it for myself.

There it was, the words, "The Pursuit of God" written in my own hand writing. I had written down a friend's book recommendation a month earlier and the papr must have fallen out of my pocket while I was sitting on the couch. And the paper with the book title was found, by my little brother, just as he said the words, "Now I am going to find the meaning and purpose to life!"

When it finally hit me, I laughed. I laughed so hard my face started to hurt. I laughed so long, Brendan looked at me in shocked amusement and commented that he had never seen me laugh so hard. I laughed so hard I had to run to the bathroom because my bladder was about to give out on me. And I kept on laughing.

The meaning and purpose of life is found in the pursuit of God? It was true!

Of course! Of course my brother would find the answer to the meaning and purpose of life written on a crumpled yellow post-it note and stuffed between the couch cushions.