Lost and found

Saturday was a day of loosing something and then finding something else that had been lost.  I always marvel when there is a day like that, when there is one occurrence that seems startling and then another where there is a surprise. Two totally unrelated things that seemed to group themselves together.

What was lost:  14 inches of hair.  Yes, my hair.  I had 14 inches of not so beautiful hair cut off.  I am donating it to Locks of Love and growing the hair was easy.  I'm glad that I can donate my wavy, frizzy, unruly hair to be turned into a nice hair piece for a young person that needs it.  I had planned to do it for a while; the hair had become a pain to care for and tangled unbelievably.  I'm very tender headed and combing out those long locks was not only tedious, it was painful.  Not to mention trying to roll over at night, that involved raising up in bed, flipping the hair around and then laying back down. The only thing I really liked was being able to French braid it.  It was time for that stuff to go, Saturday was the day.  I told the stylist I wanted it shoulder length, but in the end I got a fairly short bob with a length just below the ears.  Here's the surprising twist - my wavy hair is now almost curly!  I'm not sure if this is natural or just a result of the suddenness of the cut, but for now fixing it is a breeze! No braid, no ponytail, no twist in a clip.  Just wet, spray, scrunch and go. A little frizzy?  No problem, it is part of the new look.

What was found:  I had a diamond ring that just disappeared off my hand one afternoon in December 2013.  It was not a large, expensive ring (I am not a woman of any wealth). But it was a ring that I had bought for myself and I enjoyed wearing it.  It had three stones and was light weight; it was my ring and it just disappeared without my knowing it.  I got home that afternoon and looked down at my hand and it was gone.  Vanished.  Of course, I retraced my steps many times.  I searched through my purse as I had pulled out my phone to make a call after I got home.  I went back out to the mail box, flashlight in hand.  I walked the yard numerous times and it wasn't there.  I tore the car apart, too.  The next morning I went back to the UPS store where I had stopped on the way home.  The office was hopeless because we were temporarily relocating and it was chaos.  Could it be in a box?  Could it have fallen down in those files I had been packing?  OMG did it go in the bathroom trash when I dried my hands?  The ring was gone, I had to accept it.  I told myself that God knew where my ring was and that I needed to accept the loss.  Still, every time I walked across the yard I was looking for a sparkle or little glimmer.  I still felt that someday I would look down somewhere and see it and exclaim, "my ring, my ring there it is".

Saturday night I had gathered several things to take to church the next morning and decided to use a particular tote bag that would be the right size.  When I took it out of the closet I realized that it still had items in it.  I didn't have time to go through the stuff so I just pulled it out and stacked it up.  As usual there was debris in the bottom of the bag and I just grabbed it and pulled it out, wondering why on earth I had all those odds and ends in the bottom of the bag.  As I laid the assortment of small items down I felt something round and I wondered what on earth that was and why was it in this bag.  My curiosity made me look to see.  And, then I was exclaiming, "my ring, my ring, here it is" over and over and over!  I laughed for 30 minutes!  And, I think God laughed with me, too!  I'm still smiling as I think that the ring I lamented loosing was resting safely in my closet all that time!  I don't know how that ring fell off my hand and landed safely in that bag.  I also don't know why I hadn't used that tote bag in so long. 

And that, dear readers, is my tale of lost and found.