Last week while Julie and Andrew were staying with us - because Hurricane Sandy knocked their power out early and it stayed out - I lost one of my hoop earrings. It was not the fault of Julie or Andrew or Hurricane Sandy, that is simply when it happened. I had a sense that I had lost it in my bedroom, and looked around quite a bit in there, but didn't find it anywhere. I took the other earring out of my ear and put it on my dresser, thinking as I did so, "every time I see this sitting here, I will probably think it is the lost earring". And that was the case, until several days later when I wised up and put the lonely earring in a small covered dish that is a piece (the powder jar) of my antique dresser set.
I looked around the house in a desultory manner over the next few days, not finding the lost earring, but finding a quarter in between the couch cushions among the dust and crumbs. I was encouraged that I didn't find the earring mangled and bent after Katie found it somewhere and chewed it all up, but I was sad that it was gone because those earrings were expensive, damnit.
Then, yesterday, as I was changing my bed, I spotted the missing earring at the foot of my bed, underneath the bench where I sit to tie my shoes. I know it wasn't there before because, of course, that was one of the places I looked. I didn't care, however, and quickly picked up the earring and opened the powder jar to place it with its mate. And do you know what song played in my head as I did so? "Reunited, and it feels so good...." I love that.