I Am Easily Pleased

I dumped the whole drawer out on the bed and sifted through every item that had been in the drawer. No second earring! Frantically I searched the other drawers to no avail. Suddenly I was struck with a vague memory of something falling behind the bed that day in December as I searched for the snowflake earrings. I pulled the bed out from the wall and using a flashlight scoured the floor...finding nothing but clumps of cat fur.

Nearly in tears now - because - as I said, they are my favorites, I began to face the reality of having lost what felt like an old and dear friend. I bought them in 2001 when we took a trip back to our old stompin' grounds, Ft. Collins, Colorado. We had strolled around Old Town, both reminiscing and marveling at how it had changed since we went there every Monday night to meet friends at CooperSmith's brew pub. We wandered into some of the little boutique shops that were new to us and I spied these earrings. I thought they were artsy and unique - a perfect souvenir from our vacation.

Really, despite the fact that Scott affectionately refers to them as my "fishing lure earrings" they have been my favorites since that sunny July day. They are my default earrings...the ones I go to first every time, you know, unless I'm wearing opposing colors. I'm like that...I find what I love and I stick with it. Loyal as your Golden Retriever...that's me!

I walked aimlessly around the house trying to remember if I had put them somewhere where one of our "feline friends" could have mistaken it for a new toy. I wondered if I'd dropped them thoughtlessly into my purse on the way home late one night. Nothing I thought of led me to finding my missing keepsake.

Then suddenly - like a lightning bolt - I had a potentially brilliant idea...jewelry box #2! What if I'd accidently put away earring #2 in jewelry box #2?! I literally ran up to the bedroom to test my hypothesis and...YES! There she was, hiding among the underappreciated, broken and "doorknocker" sized earrings!

It may seem like a small thing to some - after all, it was just a misplaced earring. In the grand scheme of things not earth-shattering in the least. But I am a person who sincerely hates misplacing things...I just don't do it. It probably has to do with maintaining a sense of control in my life but let's keep the psychoanalysis for another time, shall we? I was at my very wit's end not knowing where to find this cherished earring that meant more to me than it seems it should. Having found that misplaced earring has been the highlight of my recent life! I guess I needed a win.

There's that and to quote a song I'm embarrassed to know, "It doesn't take much to make me happy!"