I was playing tennis yesterday and remembered I had my keys in my pocket. They were a bit cumbersome, so I tossed them onto my bag. I watched them slide over the edge to drop down behind the bag. For a split second, I thought “I should go and pick them up and put them in my bag.” But then the louder, more impatient-to-keep-playing-tennis voice piped in, “Nah. You’ll remember they are behind the bag.”

Well, that second voice was right, but not until I was leaving the house this morning and I began to search for my keys.

So losing one key wouldn’t be that bad, but I have as many keys as a Super, and losing ALL of them was definitely stomach-turning-kicking-myself bad.

I ran to the tennis court, hoping they were still there, laying alongside the edge with the swirling leaves and other less appealing detritus. No luck.

I asked at the neighboring daycare if any keys had been turned in, but again, no luck.

I walked home, cursing myself for being dumb–not because I had lost the keys, but because I had not listened to that first voice, the wise voice, my INTUITION.

See, here’s the thing about intuition, you never know how many times it has saved you, you only know when you happen not to listen and then something goes wrong.

But, I know I should always listen to my intuition, even when it seems lame or inconvenient. And still, I didn’t.

When I got home, my husband and I searched the house again, just on the off-chance that I had put the keys in the “perfect” spot (you know the one? Perfect at the moment until you can’t remember where that was). No luck.

I texted a friend for commiseration and then offered the following best case scenario: 1) the keys would be turned into the daycare center by some parent who’d found my keys the night before or 2) someone who found my keys would call my insurance agent, who had given me the key fob with his phone number on it.

No sooner had I finished that text than Joe Trapasso (insurance agent extraordinaire) called to tell me that someone had found my keys, and wanted to get them back to me.

To say the least, I was elated.

On my way to pick up the keys, public transportation gave me a moment to think about what all had happened.

People always talk about a “silver lining.” Well here’s what I realized:

By losing my keys, I reaffirmed the importance of listening to my intuition. I also got a sense of having a guardian angel–some greater force that looks out for me even when I unwisely choose to ignore my intuition. Finally, I got to experience my faith in the general goodness of people restored to a shiny state. After so much negativity locally and globally, my faith was tarnished.

That one person took the time to get my keys back to me, reminds me that we all have the capability of service to another and it happens a lot more than we may realize and in a multitude of ways we might not immediately recognize.

So my keys are jangling in my pocket, but now they are not cumbersome. Now they are a reminder to be on the lookout for what is good in all things.