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Friday, April 30, 2010

The Parable of the Earring That Went Down the Drain ... Twice

Moral: Some things are worth wading through toxicity to salvage. And some aren't. It's important to know the difference.

Back in the days when I was trying to boost my Ebay member rating, I went crazy buying cheap earrings. For only $5 including shipping and handling, I purchased a lovely pair of dangly teardrop pink pearl earrings. So flattering, I wore them frequently, but so cheap were they that they didn't come with backs to hold them on.

One day, I leaned over the bathroom sink while getting ready for work, and the earring fell down the drain. All day, I plotted how I'd tear apart the plumbing under the sink after work to get to my precious earring. It took about an hour and exposure to typical drain pipe sludge, gunk, and eeeewwww, but once I washed and sanitized my earring, it was as good as new.

But then ... yes. About a week or so later, the earring dropped into the sink yet again. As much as I love plumbing (and I do), I was without motivation for another round under the sink. The earring had fallen twice (or ... maybe it was the other one, I'm not sure). As melodramatic as this sounds, my earring was meant to be gone, or so I decided. Going back into the somewhat toxic cesspool of my drain pipe to fetch it would have been important for my prized sapphire earrings but not for the $5 pair.


By way of confession, I'm the type that hates losing things. Once I stood at the street curb for a very long time in the hot Arizona sun, scanning every inch of pavement til I found my missing contact lens. Sometimes, as I have learned the hard way, after repeatedly wading through sludge to get to the prize, it makes more sense to throw up the white flag and as the saying goes "move on." And, if you're like me, this is perhaps true for more weighty life situations than losing earrings.


On the right is my sad, lonely earring. Perfect for a pirate costume, when a solo earring is needed.

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