Commencing from the time I was born: I began losing stuff. Ironically, it could well be said that I'm a proverbial "born loser." Babies don't have much, so there's not much they can lose aside from an occasional diaper, pacifier, or lunch.

But I lost the most valuable thing any baby could have. I lost my birth parents. They abandoned me to a locked room, having no food or clothing, naked and alone, to starve to death. Throughout my entire life, I've
LOST AND FOUND

[Drawing of a bulletin board with various notes that are written to be like advertisements. From left to right:]
LOST AND FOUND BULLETIN BOARD

---

My 9-year-old son, Nanny moved away from home. 58 years ago. Iffer y'all find him, keep him. We don't want him back.
-Mom

---

FOUND
1 lop-eared yeller
dawg what gots only
1/2 a tail and eats
grasshoppers.

Call Dave

---

I
am lost.
Please
find
me.
John

------

My son is not
MIA nor
POW, but did
not come
home from
war. His
name is
Ralph
and
call me a

------

FOUND

1 Dodge
Charger
w/keys in
ignition.
Runs real
good.
See I.R.U.
at Sam's Dinner

------

MISSING HUSBAND

He's black and
ugly, but hoes
luv him. Name
is Jim. Take his
money, but
send him home.

------

FOUND
1 Wallet what
used to have
738 dollars
in it. Iffen
you want it
back, see
Ed.

------

Things I've Lost:
* My siblings
* My biological folks
* My dog
* My rabbit's foot
* My cigarettes
* My dinner
* My money
* My family
* My memory
* My way
* Job
* Dignity
* Self-respect
* Honor
* Sense of humor
* Freedom
* Mind
...It's all out here
somewhere, and I'm
gonna find it!!

------

Has anyone
seen my kids?
Ever dam
one of um
runned off
a couple
years back.
Wilma

------

Lost my
state job
to budget
cutbacks
lookin' to
be re-
hired.

Larb

------

<-He ain't
never had an
honest job
in his whole
life. What's
he snivellin'
for? Hire
me, not him.

Susan

------

Where, oh, where
were you last
night? Why did
you leave me
here all alone?
I searched the
world over and
thought I found
true love. You
met another
and... poof... you
were gone.

------

You picked a fine
time to leave me,
Lucille, with five
hungry children
and a crop in the
field.

------

I found yer
runned-away
wife, George,
and I are a-
keepin' her
'cause she don'
want you no
mores. So...
Finders/keepers,
old Hoss. Git
over it already!

------

I lost
my heart in
San Francisco.
And I'll never
find it again
for Sally's
got it next
to hers.

------

Looked for those delinquent parents of mine... to no avail. At age 15, I lost my adoptive parents as well. I was committed to a state mental hospital where I then lost my mind.

Because of the loss of my parents, I lost any sense of self-identity and self-respect I might have lived to enjoy. Had both sets of parents not abandoned me.

I lost my virginity to rape.

In the year 1968, I twice lost my life (pronounced dead by a licensed physician at St. Mary's Hospital in Long Beach, California). God almighty brought me back to life.

In 1974, I lost my freedom to the crime that has landed me in prison for the remainder of my life. And it is in prison that I have truly found myself. My wayward identity. For the very first time in this life of excessive loss.

I once was lost... but now I'm found.