Lost and Found

Yesterday was a strange day for me. A few weeks ago I lost one of my favorite rings -- a gold (completely fake, I'm sure) mesh ring -- that I received for Christmas. I knew it had to be in the house, but I had absolutely no idea where it was. Yesterday afternoon I changed out of my "church clothes" and put on a comfortable skirt, and voila! There in my pocket was my ring! I was very, very happy.

Later that afternoon we drove up to the area of far-northern NJ where Don's family put down their roots and paid a visit to the cemetery where his grandparents are buried. We haven't been there in about ten years, when his "Granny" was buried. His family, for generations, had been Catholic so, naturally, they are buried in a Catholic cemetery, complete with a monstrous white marble Jesus hanging from the cross as you come into the drive, flanked by equally large statues of Mary and John, the Beloved Disciple, under which were buried all of the priests and Franciscan monks laid out neatly in a large circle. Aidan got such a kick out of seeing his last name on the headstone, and then got an even bigger thrill (????) when he saw his first name on the stone of one Irish priest buried underneath Jesus. It was an interesting day, to say the least! Thankfully Aidan was too absorbed in his surroundings to ask the million "why?" questions I was anticipating (and didn't feel like answering).

Anyway, back to my topic. When we returned home, the kids stayed out in the yard to play, and after a while I went out to be with them. I laid a blanket on the ground and the three of us looked up at the sky; we had races in the long side yard; we kicked balls back and forth. When I finally came in I went to my room to remove my jewelry ... only to find now that my earring was missing! I was truly bummed -- I love these earrings. I purchased them in St. Martin, the Caribbean island we visited on our 5th wedding anniversary. They are silver, with a beautiful dark blue lapis lazuli stone in the center, and I wear them often. My "high" from finding my ring quickly dissipated, now having lost one of my favorite earrings.

"It's only a material item," I kept telling myself, mantra-style, as I walked barefoot through the grass. I walked with my eyes glued to the ground, down our front steps, up the sidewalk a bit, and into our next door neighbor's yard (where I had earlier gone to fetch a ball that had gone over the fence). I retraced my steps back to my own yard. Nothing. Aidan asked me what I was doing, so I told him that I lost an earring, and showed him the one that was left so he could see what it looked like. He then did a cute (and powerful) thing: he laid a blanket on the grass and told me to kneel down with him. He folded his little hands and started to pray that Mommy would find her earring -- one of his "magical prayers." I thanked him, stood up ... and wouldn't you know it, within 30 seconds -- just a few paces away from where we were kneeling -- I found my earring in the grass! Aidan was beaming and declared that "magical prayers are great!" I was indeed thankful, and Aidan then took my hand to kneel on the grass once more so we could thank God for helping us find what was lost.

Yes, we'll work on the theology aspect of this one of these days. Aidan will definitely need to learn that sometimes prayers aren't answered in the way that we would like. But for now this is a really neat lesson for him, and for myself. Our grown-up lives can get so messy, so cluttered, so complicated. I am learning to love the simplicity of his childlike faith, looking at things through his uncomplicated childlike eyes. What was lost had been found. And I'm one happy be-jeweled camper!