Looking Too Hard

It happens from time to time where you are determined to find something you just put down, search the pantry for something you’re sure you just bought, or try to solve a problem that has to show the answer if you stare at it long enough. You look and look, giving the thing all of your direct attention, but to no avail. You give up, either in irritation or inevitable defeat, and walk away. Later (sometimes not all that much later), the thing you were looking for shows itself, either somewhere close to where you were looking, or somewhere that, while obvious, you never would’ve thought to look. It’s embarrassing, and once confronted with the reality that the thing was not where you looked but now is found, it can be hard not to laugh in relief that, while the process was a pain and the intensity of the search was exhausting, the thing is found and the problem is now solved.