Lost and Found

For there is nothing lost, that may be found, if sought.  - Edmund Spenser,

 This has been a harrowing week. I've written on my two other blogs about love and loss and compassion through grieving after losing two dear women that I loved and having attended their respective funerals. I write to help me come to terms with and make sense of the events that happen around me. It's a great way to process my feelings.

Well today, I'm writing about love and loss on this blog but it fits perfectly into what this blog is about. My adventures and misadventures of getting fit and using a Fitbit tracking device to keep me honest. (As honest as a device can keep me. It wasn't able to rat me out for the cupcake I ate yesterday so no one knows - shoot! They do now!)

Today while I was merrily on my way to kicking my sister and nieces hindquarters on the Fitbit Weekend Warrior Challenge, tragedy struck. I'd already walked a mile and was up to over 4000 steps by 10:00 A.M. I came back inside to revel in what I'd added to that total by working in the yard for over an hour, only to find that my device wasn't updating. I shut down the app and restarted it to see if that would clear the issue. No dice. I started running around to see if my iPhone would record my latest steps but still nothing. That's when I noticed that my device had stopped recording because it wasn't on my wrist anymore.

It felt like I'd lost another someone dear to me! It was the insult icing on the injury cake I'd been eating all week. I didn't start out loving this device. As a matter of fact I was pretty suspicious of it. Over time however it had step counted and rewarded it's way pretty solidly into my heart.

I ran back outside and retraced my steps in the yard, (probably hitting my 10,000 step goal in the process and getting NO credit for any of it.) The search was fruitless. I even emptied the yardwaste can where I'd put all the weeds, grass, and leaves I'd taken up and searched through it. My beloved Flex was not to be found. My husband went back to the track we'd walked earlier in the day even though I knew I'd had it since we'd been back.

I'd only had my Fitbit for a bit over a month and we'd grown so close. I texted my sister to tell her the sad news. Her reply was "Noooooooo! Search high and low! Did you throw it away?" I think she likes this accountability thing we have going as much as I need it.

So - completely defeated, I determined I couldn't go on without Fitbit. I was going to go right out and replace it, but first, I wanted to let Fitbit know how unhappy I was to have to be doing this after just over a month, so I called customer service. 

The guy who answered was totally sympathetic - like he understood my sense of loss. After a brief hold while checking my account, he said the first thing he wanted to try was to see if he could help me locate my present tracker. He immediately sent me an email with a link to an app that would use my iPhone to track the Fitbit's bluetooth signal. If that didn't work within 24 hours, I was to phone back and he'd help me further.

I downloaded the app right away and started the treasure hunt. Using the app is like playing hot or cold to find an item. It has bars that light up as you get closer to the signal and fades as you get further away. I got no signal anywhere except near the yardwaste can that I'd already dumped. Hoping not to have to do that again, I kept moving around the yard and watching the signal - fade away the further I got away from the inevitable yuk work.

My husband joined me for the second dumping. I held the phone with one hand and picked through the weeds, leaves and dirt with the other. As we got further into the mess, the signal picked up until finally my Fitbit emerged from a gnarled clump of weeds, dirty, but unharmed.

This is a much happier tale of loss than the past two have been. To be reunited with my original device was great and I owe it all to Fitbit's great customer service.

For any of the rest of you who are already Fitbit owners, The number I called for help was 877-623-4997. I found the number online from someone else who had had a good experience calling it. Just hit 0 when it starts giving you the selection prompts.The app that I was sent is called LightBlue and I'm sure this won't be the last time I use it.

Good customer service is getting hard to come by these days so when I find it, I feel the least I can do is sing the praises.

Now that I've done so, it's back on to the important task of hindquarter kicking. My sister and niece are counting on me! On top of that I have a cupcake lodged firmly somewhere between my hips and thighs to chase off.

Come join us! We're having a good time with this fitness thing! (Yardwaste digging excluded.)

Until next time - keep on stepping!