Lost and found

Through a set of very odd circumstances, a pair of earrings that I treasure returned to me today.

I had missed them months ago and given them up for lost over the holidays when some cleaning revealed they were nowhere on the bureau where my modest jewelry box resides among the equally precious "jewels" from the playground that my boy bestows on me with some frequency. The church lost and found turned up the missing half of each of two other pair of earrings. But not these.

The earrings in question are small, squarish silver crosses. I bought them at annual conference in 2004 from the booth of a group that supports ministries in Africa. I was there that year to see Molly ordained. That's also the year that, walking with Karen Peter among the booths, I hesitated at the CST table. I wasn't really ready to tell anyone that I was thinking about seminary -- I hadn't told Jim or Molly yet. But I stopped and picked up a catalogue and other information and told Karen about my impossible dream of entering seminary.

So these earrings are embued with lots of meaning, not to mention that they are a significant symbol of my faith.

Having already established that I had given them up for lost, here's how I found them:

I've been on campus this week with no cash and without much desire to spend using plastic or by withdrawing from my anemic checking account. I have some food here, soup, cereal, oatmeal and coffee. So, I'm not going hungry. But, I didn't have time for lunch because I wrote a paper during the lunch hour. The snack bar sells stuff cheap that is more portable than soup, so I counted my change. I had less than a dollar. I remembered that someone who uses commuter housing routinely throws pennies away into a desk drawer. So, I opened the drawer and fished out about 20 cents. Still not quite enough for a bagel and a drink. So, I decided to see if there was any spare change in the drawers of the other desk in the room. There was not. Instead, I found my earrings.

What an odd little adventure of trying to live within my means and having treasures restored!