The Miracle of the Pot Lid

Together again

Some time ago, I wrote about the mysterious disappearance of my pot lid.  It caused no end of frustration, and even though I have another pot that uses the same sized lid, and therefore could press that remaining lid into service, one pot always had to remain "lidless." Finally I  bought one of those cheap universal lids with ridges on it, allowing it to work on different sized pots, but it just wasn't the same.

I have berated myself for months for being so careless as to have thrown it away.  I could come up with no other explanation for its disappearance.  All I could remember was:  I put it in the cupboard, and when I went to use it again, the pot came out in my hand with no lid.  I tore the house apart looking for that stray piece of stainless steel, but could not find it.  It's not as though I have lots of storage places where it could be.  I even went so far as to look in suitcases, not because I think my pot lid had travel yearnings, but because I have been known to get distracted and put things in odd places (like putting a purse in the fridge) and forget where I left them.

This morning, as I was putting away last night's dishes, which I'd left to dry overnight, I put away the soup pot with its lid, but the lid "fell."  When I reached in, feeling my way in the space  (the pots live in the back of a rather low to the ground cupboard) to retrieve it--no lid.  I bent down and looked in--a second lid had indeed gone missing.  I thought I might well be losing my mind.

Miracles do happen!

After taking all the contents of the cupboard from both shelves, leaving the cupboard completely empty, I realized that the second lid truly was not there!!!! What on Earth???!!  A closer inspection revealed a space between the back of the shelf and the very back of the cupboard--the pot lid had fallen from the top shelf to the bottom shelf, right?

But when I looked at the bottom shelf, it was completely bare.  No pot lid....so I leaned in for a closer look.  Voila--I discovered that the bottom shelf had a false back!  And when I was able to slide it up, behind it was pot lid #2, standing on its edge.  I retrieved it and bent even further down for a closer look.  And there I glimpsed a peek of pot lid #1, lying on it's face, and working its way underneath the cupboard bottom, on the floor.  I didn't dare try to grab it, because if I pushed it too hard, it would end up sandwiched in the center of underneath the cupboard bottom.  As the cupboard is caulked and attached to the side wall, there is absolutely no way to move it, nor does the bottom shelf come out to retrieve anything that ends up there?  Who designed such a thing?  

I tried, briefly to fish it our with tongs, but am completely hampered by the fact that I cannot kneel, at all, due to the injuries I sustained last spring to both knees when I fell at the Saturday market.  What to do? Fortunately, I was getting company.  My friends John and Catherine were due shortly, and I would have to swallow my pride and ask for help. 

Catherine, who is petite and has small, delicate hands, fished that pot lid out of its hiding place in 5 seconds.  We speculated on ways to prevent this from ever happening again.  I will rearrange the pots and their respective lids--all three of them. 

I had actually begun to believe I made up the existence of that pot lid.