Do you know what this is?
It's a Christmas miracle. I lost these earrings 3 years ago, I have searched high, low and everywhere else. I always keep my eye out for them and hope they will magically appear in an unchecked coat pocket. Yesterday I was cleaning out an old bag I had up in my closet. As I opened it I actually thought, "wouldn't it be great if I found my disk earrings in this bag, HA!" I pulled out a couple bobbi pins from one pocket and scooped out another pocket with these lovelies. I sat there gobsmacked for several moments then did a very jubilant happy dance. I don't loose things often (well, my temper frequently but otherwise...) so these treasures left me haunted.
Speaking of haunted, a little story...
In fifth grade, Jesse Melnick was new to my school. His grandparents took him out of public school and put him in private school after his mom committed suicide. I think he had a younger sister, no dad that I was aware of. He, Damon, Gina and I were good friends and I remember him speaking lovingly of his mom in the comfort of our small group. We "dated" for four days in sixth grade when he gave me a bracelet of his mom's to wear until we "broke up". I felt awkward and sad when he gave me the bracelet and gave it right back to him after the long weekend of our "relationship". He and Damon left in seventh grade but we kept in contact and ran into each other here and there.
When I was sixteen, I had stayed late at a youth group party and when I arrived home, my parents were furious because they couldn't get a hold of me/I broke curfew. They were carrying on in frustration/anger while I just stood in the living room not at all surprised but confused at their exaggerated reaction. After I got my lecture, they told me they were more concerned about my being on the road/away from them because Damon's mom had called while I was out to tell me Jesse had been killed in a car accident.
I remember Jesse's funeral very clearly; going by myself, sitting on the soft velvet pew, the chapel smelling like Pine Sol and a faint musky smell I didn't like at all, teenagers weeping, making eye contact with Gina and loosing it myself, Jesse's sad grandparents holding hands, the warm afternoon at the cemetery and Jesse being buried on a hill under a tree from which wind chimes sang softly in the breeze (by the way, wind chimes in a cemetery=super creepy) and leaving the burial feeling so desperately sad.
My sister Shannon and her family recently moved into a new house in a new town about 45 minutes from where we grew up. There is a shed out back where a previous owner abandoned random belongings. My nephew Dawson was rummaging through/cleaning it out and found a little old treasure box. Inside he found this: Jesse's ID card.
