about 5 years ago, I lost my grandmother's thimble- it was very precious to me and I used it when I did hand sewing. She passed away over 60 years ago so you can guess how old the thimble was. I searched absolutely everywhere in my sewing room, in every single container including the boxes that hold my patterns. I searched for days and was just heartbroken that it was gone. I eventually stopped searching but always had that thimble in the back of my head.
Several years later, I was cleaning out the closet in the guest room (no sewing done in there) and found a container with the "makings" for those styrofoam Christmas balls that you fold fabric and use tiny straight pins to stick to the balls......there in the container of straight pins was my grandmother's thimble. I just sat down and cried I was so relieved that I had not thrown it out by mistake. It is now in my jewelry box and when I need a thimble I know where it is and without fail, put it back every single time.