Little Lost Notebook

Well, it finally happened. I lost a Field Notes notebook today. I don’t know exactly when it happened. Maybe on my early monrning walk. Maybe sometime later. But I can’t find my notebook anywhere. The good news: I’d just started this notebook a few days ago, so there wasn’t much in it. Also, I’ve gotten into the habit of transcribing important stuff into my daily notes in Obsidian each day. The bad news: it was a brand new “Heavy Duty” edition, which is one of my favorites.

This was bound to happen. Since June 2015, virtually no day has passed without a Field Notes notebook in my back pocket. That’s nearly 7 years. I’ve filled 33 Field Notes notebooks during that time without losing a single one. Until today.

Inside the cover of every Field Notes notebook is a place to record your name, address, dates, and contact information in case the notebook is lost. Maybe someone will find my notebook and try to get it back to me.

Even though I didn’t really lose anything critical, I was disturbed when I noticed the notebook was missing and I couldn’t find it anywhere. My notebooks is never more than a few feet from me at the most. If it is missing, it must be truly gone, and there was something both frustrating and disappointing about that.

The Heavy Duty editions had sold out for a while, but when Field Notes announced new production of the notebooks, I ordered a bunch of them (I did say they were my favorite) and so I have quite a few in my collection. I have since resigned myself to the fact that the one that I had this morning is gone. A brand new one is in my back pocket as I write this ready for its first ink.

I haven’t written in it yet, though. I keep telling myself that as soon as I write in it, I’ll hear Kelly’s voice from the other side of the house call out and say, “I found your notebook.” Eventually, though, I’ll have to give in, if for no other reason than to jot down the fact that this notebook is a replacement of the first Field Notes notebook I ever lost.

Assuming I lose one out of 34 notebooks, and assuming it takes me nearly 7 years to fill 33 notesbooks, I should expect to lose the next one on about November 6, 2028. If you are still following this blog then, ask me about it and I’ll tell you how things are going.

Written on March 1, 2022.