It was Easter weekend four years ago, 2014. Sarah and
John and the kids were going to Chapel Hill to look at apartments and houses –
Sarah would be starting graduate school there that August. She invited us to go
along and tour the area with them. I drove there by myself because Mike was out
of town for work, but he had arranged for his flight back to deliver him to the
Raleigh airport, and I was going to pick him up there the evening the rest of
us got to Chapel Hill.
Raleigh is only a half hour drive away, and I
was able to find it just fine. I had arrived very early and ended up walking
the length of the airport, inside, many times back and forth while awaiting
Mike’s arrival. At one of the newsstands, a young woman behind the counter
exclaimed how much she loved my earrings. I loved my earrings – peace symbols
that Mike had gotten for me a few years earlier. Then the young woman burst out with:
“Can I have your earrings?”
Um….was
she kidding?
What a
dilemma!
Mike
gave me the earrings. They were extra special to me.
But
they are peace symbols. How do I say no when someone asks to have my peace symbols?
Wouldn’t it be hypocritical –
parading around as if I believe in peace when in actuality, I’m not willing to share the peace?
If I
said no, would the earrings continue to be special to me or would I feel guilty
because I did not give them away when asked?
My brain
shut down just like a smoking Star Trek
computer. The smiling newsstand girl was eagerly awaiting my response.
I ended
up giving her one of the earrings and
uttered something about how we would be sharing the peace across our respective
places in the world.
She was
thrilled.
I felt
a genuine loss. How could I give away something Mike had given to me?
About a
half hour later, I saw the young woman walking through the crowd. The peace
symbol earring was dangling from one of her ears. She did not see me but seemed
lost in thought and was grinning broadly.
Since then, I have taken a peace symbol off of
a necklace that I have and hooked it with an earring that actually spells peace, and I pair that with the peace
symbol earring Mike gave me whose mate was given away that night at the Raleigh
airport.
The two
earrings I wear as this new pair look just fine together. But it still tugs at
me, more than I think anything else that I have ever lost or regretted giving
away – because it had been something special from Mike. Why didn’t I just say
no, in a nice way with a big smile when the young woman had asked?
But
then again, I could get lofty about it. I’ll never know the adventures the
other earring has had or will have. Maybe the young woman was inspired to pay
it forward and it has somehow spread love throughout the land? Maybe she lost
it and it was found by someone else who now has a story about it. Or maybe she
has forgotten about it and it sits in a drawer – but will be discovered again someday and
have new adventures or will be given away and then have new stories.
Okay,
if you put it that way, giving her one of the earrings was really the only way to
go!
16 20180514 Peace Earrings
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