A young man called his mother, his voice filled with panic. “Mom, I can’t find my keys! I’ve searched the entire apartment, and they’re just gone. I’m going to be late for a very important job interview!”
His mother listened calmly on the other end of the line. After a moment of silence, she asked, “Did you make your bed this morning?”
The son was baffled and a little irritated. “Mom, what does that have to do with anything? I’m in a real crisis here!”
“Well,” she replied in a gentle, knowing tone, “if you had, you would have found them under your pillow where you left them last night. But since you didn’t, I guess you’ll just have to break the door down.”
The son went silent, then rushed to his bedroom. He lifted the pillow. There were the keys.
He came back to the phone, completely amazed. “You were right! How did you possibly know?”
His mom sighed softly and said, “I didn’t. But I figured if you were going to start your day in a mess, you might as well learn a lesson about it.”