The Lost and Found

I almost feel guilty in saying this but, when the temperatures dipped down below 0 degrees this January I was blessed to be far, far away from it all.  My husband and I along with another couple booked a trip  to an exotic island.  Surrounded by palm trees and the clear, blue ocean  I immersed myself, letting the salty waters of life bob me around like a little, lost duck.  My skin went into shock and broke out into full blown body rash. Despite my skins unwillingness to acclimate,  we made the most out of every day, going from one end of the island and back again.  Beach combing and uncovering rocks this would be our get-away to see what we could find. 

One day we decided to go visit the island's light house,  off in the distance we could see it standing like a  beacon on the hill.  As we got closer the tower  grew larger then finally upon arrival it loomed over us like a friendly giant.  I stepped up to the massive shaft and there on it's door was a rusty corroded lock that surely hadn't been opened in a long, long time. I wondered who kept the keys to this light house . Up on the hill  now with all the other tourist of the world snapping photos and running around we converged for a small random moment- or was it?  The wind kicked up dust and blew my coral colored skirt up and around. I struggled to adjust to the unruliness of my situation. While looking down to keep the wind out of my eyes, there on the ground reflecting brightly, against the grit of the earth, lay a shiny silver heart pendant.  Elated I picked it up and let it rest in the palm of my hand.  I looked around to see if any one was looking for it.  I thought how sad for someone to have lost their heart at this light house, probably another tourist, who will most likely never be back.  Maybe a young girl, tan and happy had received it from an admirer.  I will never know. 

What I do know is what it feels like to have lost something.  There's a void there and for me it's hard to move on.  I've lost my heart to someone and had the overwhelming feeling of being lost myself.  Once I lost  two silver bangle bracelets while taking a walk in a park on a cold day. I think I had taken my gloves off and they slipped off onto the ground and lay there in the woods upon the soft, leafy path .  When I found out I had lost them it was too late to go back.  I found comfort in knowing that maybe some other person  would find them and have that same elated feeling of having found something special, personal and shiny.  Once, years ago I was going to have lunch at  a club with a friend.  While walking up to the entrance  I looked down on the asphalt  and to my surprise on the ground lay not one but two heavily encrusted diamond and emerald rings.  I picked them up and was astonished at what I had just found.  My friend was trying to convince me that I should keep them, that they were worth a lot of money.  I could tell by the settings that they were older and probably belonged to an older women.  When I went into the club I mentioned to the help there that if anyone called about having lost two diamond rings, to give them my number.  The person I talked to suggested I give him the rings and he would take care of it.  I declined and waited at home to see if I would get a call.  Sure enough in a day or so an older women called and exclaimed she had put the rings in a skirt pocket that had a hole in it.  She described the rings and then told me if I returned them she would reward me.  I returned them to her that day and received something like 25.00 as a reward.  The real reward was seeing how happy she was to be reunited with the rings she rightfully owned.

As for the heart pendant I confess I took it home and made a necklace out of it.  Strung with turquoise beads and pearls accented with little silver  flowers.  At the clasp on the end of a chain there is a tiny butterfly, it's new  life still lives on.  It's hard to lose things but in turn it's also really fun to find things, such is life.  As for losing your real heart, hopefully you never really lose it. The heart is an amazing thing, like a plant it wilts and sinks to despair, but with good love out of the cold cold ground it comes up to bloom for you again.