I Lost My Heart

I'm not what you would call a jewelry person. I don't accessorize well. And I lose jewelry all the time.

Wait until you hear where I lost the most recent piece. 

Last year on the last swim of the summer I lost a diamond earring in the pool. And this was after losing a sapphire earring earlier in the year. I know these are just decorative items but they were also gifts and losing the gift feels like I'm being careless with the feelings of the giver. 

Yet, for some reason I asked my husband to help the boys give me jewelry on my birthday this year. I always feel like I should wear more, but I never do. I'm too lazy to put jewelry on, even really lovely jewelry. And I have no eye for knowing what makes an outfit pop. 

But I forged ahead with the birthday jewelry. We went to a department store. I didn't want anything expensive, I just wanted something they picked for me.

First, my middle son selected a silvery, sparkly heart locket on a necklace. It was adorable and gaudy and I loved it. 

But then my older son came to me with a necklace he had found...and I loved it. Knowing I love elephants, he had hunted around until he found this charming little fellow. I gushed. I grinned. I told him how much I loved it. I went way too far overboard. And even though I'm not amateur-level mom, I made a serious error by showing my enthusiasm because my middle son burst into tears. He knew (we all knew) I liked the elephant necklace more than the heart necklace. 

I couldn't help but love it.

My husband and I went into emergency-emotional-repair mode. After some intensive soothing he selected a lovely bracelet that I really love and wear quite frequently. He's too young to realize what an effort I'm making to put it on. Finally my youngest chose some sweet heart-shaped stud earrings. It took awhile because he wanted to pick the biggest dangliest earrings he could find but I explained patiently over and over and over that I wanted earrings that I could run with, wear under my bike helmet and under my swim cap. I am not the person to take earrings off and put them back on. Once they are in, they are in. 

He liked the chain mail look

Except they are not. Somehow my earrings always come loose. I should've noticed the warning signs. After I would towel-dry my hair I'd hear an earring hit the tile floor. I found earrings on my pillow in the morning when making my bed. I lost the back of one and put a new back on that seemed tighter. I should've made the other one tighter because yesterday it fell out of my ear into the toilet. I think. I heard it hit somewhere in the bathroom but when I stood up I could not find it. I searched everywhere. Everywhere. Everywhere. There was nothing else to do but scour the internet before my three year old notices and freaks out. I flushed.

Last of the earrings