I went on a quick photo shoot this afternoon downtown Chicago.  Against my better judgment I wore my favorite pair of earrings, dangly earrings that have fallen out before.  I looked in the mirror with gear in hand and said to myself “you know you are going to lose these earrings today don’t wear them”. But I did.  And guess what?  I lost one.  I didn’t notice right away but as I was getting ready to go out for the evening and I was pulling my hair up I noticed there was only one earring left standing….ugggggghhh.  LOST was one of my favorite earrings!

As silly as it may sound I was really sad about losing that earring.  That pair of earrings and I have been through a lot together.  I remember the day I purchased them and the trip I was preparing to take (and take those earrings with me), taking that trip and wearing those sassy enhancements, falling in love and going through the inevitable break-up. Those earrings have been with me through a relationship, a break up, two moves a divorce and a job transition – we were inseparable…until today.

And that got me thinking about a little trinket I found a couple of weeks ago while shooting some barns up north.  I found this really old and run-down building that had been obviously abandoned for quite some time.  I loved the property and the lines of this old structure and went out of my way to find it off of the highway way.  It was a gem I rewarded myself with for taking the time to exit and drive down unknown roads to capture it with my camera.  It was a very, very, verrrrrrrry cold morning and my fingers were frozen to the point of pain but I was determined to take pictures of this building regardless….frost bite-schhhh…Mite, I’m getting pictures of this beauty!

As I was walking back to my car I felt the need to get at least one more picture…another angle, and so I did…and that’s when I saw this beautiful worn out buckle/handle type of object practically buried under dirt and tumble weeds.  I did (what I consider to be) the unthinkable….I picked up and extracted from its resting placed what seemed to be an old and tired object and put it in my pocket.  I took it home with me as if it were a trophy…an item….a really “cool item FOUND”…mine.

I wonder now if someone will find my silver hoop earring loaded with amber beads and a truck load of memories and think to themselves… “cool item FOUND”.  Maybe it will never be found by a person, maybe it sadly landed in the street only to be smashed and swept away by big fat smelly hurried cars that have no feelings at all.

We never know for sure the experiences an object holds or what the emotional value they have to the person who has lost them is. Nor do we know the fate of such object regarding where it may land one day.   I knew when I found that leather handle…..whatever that item was, I had found something cool…really cool. But now I will treasure it even more knowing that someone may have been sad about its loss, as with the loss of my earring.  A special earring to me, a special piece of farming equipment to someone else, I will treasure it as possibly a fair Karmic exchange or an emotional replacement something lost…and found.

~ The Urban Mountaineer