solution to my disappearing LR photos

To those who sent suggestions about the above:

I went to a data backup drive and found .LRdata and .LRcatalog folders. I clicked on them to see what they contained but they would not open. The suggestion was made to open them in my choice of folders which I usually find are not helpful. I took some screen shots to show my own consultant. I then went back into LR for no reason I can think of and there they were - all my images in place. I do not understand this but I will not argue with it. What did I learn? Not sure if I learned anything.

Thanks,

Richard