mulberryshoots

Something happened today that reminded me how providence is sometimes the only thing that accounts for things happening the way that they do. I had a couple of errands this afternoon, dropping off a package at the UPS station in the Staples store; picking up a few groceries, then coming home. As I climbed the stairs to our place on the third floor of the Queen Anne Victorian house that also serves as G.’s piano shop, I looked in the mirror as I was washing my hands and noticed for the first time that my necklace with two ancient jade charms, a hand and a monkey holding a peach were gone. They were tiny pieces and I wore them along with a second necklace on another chain, small diamond from a ring that G. had given me when we were first betrothed.

I took off the diamond necklace right away when I noticed the jade pieces were missing because I was wary of losing it also, although that wasn’t very logical. I remembered taking off the gold necklace with the jade pieces around lunch time because they were getting tangled up. I straightened them out and then fastened the necklace with the jade pieces on again. Now, it occurred to me that I must not have secured it properly and had somehow lost the jade pieces somewhere along where I had done my errands.

Why was this happening to me, I thought with some consternation as I put my sandals back on. I ruminated about why this had happened and what it meant as I got back in the car. My heart was heavy as I called the Stop and Shop Customer Service, then went back to the UPS station at Staples where the guy, Jake, offered to take my name down in case the necklace showed up. Then, back to the grocery store, retracing my steps where I had stopped to look at white peaches, a few small Yukon potatoes, a box of rice chex, some Pillsbury pie crusts, a box of Magnum small almond ice cream bars. I even looked inside the shelf with the grocery freezer door open. I looked on the ground around the parking spaces outside the grocery store. And then back again along our driveway and steps where I had unpacked the groceries.

Hopefully, I pulled out the leather sofa cushions thinking that maybe the necklace had come apart before I had gone out and slipped under something here at home. But no luck. I was crestfallen and feeling both embarrassed and upset. I considered whether to confess to G. what had happened because I didn’t want to tell him about this loss. It made me remember a jade and pearl ring I had lost as a child that my grandmother had given me too. G. said of course I had to tell him so that he could keep an eye out to find the pieces too.

After dinner, we got a phone call from my daughter M., who lives in Minneapolis, who suggested that we skype with her and her family. We had fun holding up our fruit (J.’s strawberries and our Rainier cherries) to the camera and then eating them at the same time. Afterwards, G., who had gone downstairs to change his shoes, held out his hand to hold mine and clasped it. When he let go, there was a tiny jade monkey holding a peach! I jumped up and asked him where he found it–and where was the jade hand? It was on the table where he had put it. He said that when he looked outdoors in the twilight, he could see the two jade pieces in the driveway where I had off-loaded the groceries. No gold chain in sight. G. thought maybe the glitter of the metal might have attracted a bird to abscond with it and fly somewhere with it.

I have to say, I couldn’t believe that G. had found the two jade charms in our driveway. In the midst of my desperate hour-long search, re-tracing my steps to look for them, I had asked for help from the Helpers, Cosmic reinforcement that generates much more help than mere mortals are capable of. I guess it worked. Or if you don’t believe in that stuff, I’d like for you to explain to me how providence brought these two ancient jade pieces back to me after I thought they were lost forever.

So, I am still wondering what the lesson is for losing these charms and then finding them again. Providence means “divine guidance or care.” I think this lost-and-found happening today was a very strong reminder that I’m not in charge, necessarily, and to be careful to remember and respect that. Point taken. Thanks also to the Helpers and to G. for taking care of me by finding my necklace. Or almost all of it.