Day 116: Finding Lost Items

Friday was a day when I felt like things were going wrong. Why? Because  I lost a ring that held sentimental value. What was worse is that I lost the ring in a place I should have been able to find the ring: in a bag of leaves.

The snow in winter must have covered the leaves before people could rake and it was my chore to keep the outside tidy last week.  I opted to rake the leftover leaves from the fall and attempt to put them into one garbage bag.  I would fill the bag, crush the leaves, and repeat until the bag was nearly full and the leaves were nearly gone.  As I was putting the final handfuls into the top of the bag I felt my ring slip off.  If my hand had been on top of the leaves it would have been easier to find, but my hand was actually under another pile of leaves I'd grabbed with my other hand.

My initial reaction was not to move.  I thought if I could just move the top leaves carefully perhaps I would find it... but as I started this process, no luck.  I pulled out small handfuls and let the wind take them from my hands back onto the ground. This continued and I watched as I destroyed my progress and failed to find my ring.

When I got to the bottom of the garbage bag I looked through the remaining dust and still no sign of the ring.  My defeat led me inside, abandoning my attempts to make the yard look nice.  I saw it as just another way of Colorado telling me I didn't belong.

Saturday I looked through the leaves again... still no luck. Sunday it snowed.  Monday I worked all day. Tuesday I looked through the leaves again - still no luck. So today I had decided I would either find the ring - which couldn't have disappeared (right?) - or I would look into buying a new one a half size smaller so it might not slip off of my finger so easily.

I went out and started picking up individual leaves, then small handfuls, then larger handfuls - allowing the wind to take the leaves from me and watching as all of the particles left my hands.  I was finding no luck when I was a third of the way through the pile.  Somehow I switched to animal digging mode and started pawing the leaves, nearing my breaking point. (I'm sure anybody who could see me was contemplating my sanity.) I was about to give up when I saw the most beautiful silver with the most lovely imbedded stones... A true sight for sore eyes.

Someone likened my search to finding a needle in a haystack - and I'm sure it's not quite at that level, but I found my ring in the giant pile of leaves. And that's pretty great.  Reuniting with a lost item that was once cherished will always be a victory.