island of misfit earrings

I lost an earring while we were at Six Flags on Saturday. I'm not sure how, but when I was washing my hands in the bathroom at one point I noticed that I was looking rather thug-like with only one disco ball-esque stud. It was sad, but the good thing is that these kinds of earrings are still pretty popular and available at any store, so at least I can replace them. I did, however, take out my remaining earring and carefully zip it up in my pocket for safe keeping.

Upon arriving home, I added the singleton earring to my collection of other single earrings in my jewelry box. And upon doing that, I started thinking and questioning my actions.

Why am I saving these single earrings? What are you supposed to do with matchless earrings? I really can't just throw a perfectly usable earring in the trash, especially when it's one I really like. But then...it's not like I can ever use it again, either. Unless I lose an ear one day! Maybe if I lose an ear, I will suddenly be very thankful that all of these carefully saved single earrings will be of some use again. Yeah. I'll save it for that. But no, seriously. Why do I have a (rapidly growing, it seems) collection of sad little single earrings?

My apologies that that picture is not even remotely focused. It was a long night. But those are just a few of the misfit earrings that I gleaned off the top of my jewelry box to demonstrate my collection. And sure, it's not like all of these unusable earrings are taking up a lot of space or anything...yet. But I sorta have this vision of myself in 40 years and there's this headline like "WOMAN BURIED ALIVE BENEATH TON OF  MATCH-LESS EARRINGS THAT SHE JUST COULDN'T THROW AWAY" and that's kind of a sad way to go. But at least it's a sparkly way?

Anyway. Who can give me some great wisdom about how to solve this situation? You know what the best cure would be? STOP LOSING YOUR EARRINGS, ERIKA. I don't know why I manage to lose so many. It must be my body's intrinsic pirate-ness...everyone knows pirates only wear one earring at a time. Anyone seen any great Pinterest projects that call for a collection of unmatching earrings? That would definitely be the project for me.

OH! Better yet, maybe I should start some kind of webpage where people can post photos of their single earrings and then maybe two people with the same single earring can find each other and work out a deal where one of them sells their earring to the other! Or they could have joint custody? Yeah right. If I ever found the mate to my white feather-ish/leaf-ish looking earring, I would do a number of less-than-legal things to make sure it was MINE ALL MINE and never share it with anyone. Maybe most people aren't as attached to their earrings as I am, though?

Well, there ya go, folks. These are the things that I actually spend my time thinking about. True story.

Other true story: I had a cyst rupture last night. On the positive side, it's the first one since surgery, so at least I've had a nice long reprieve from that special brand of suffering...and also, if it ruptures, that means it can't keep growing and growing and become the size of a lemon and mangle up my Fallopian tube and require surgical removal...so that's good, I guess. On the negative side- well, it hurts like crap. That hasn't changed, evidently. And I have a big event at work tonight that I really need to finish up some things for, so I hauled my sleep-deprived derriere and swollen belly right on in this morning. Yay. I'm walking like I'm about 200 years old (ironically, prior to the rupture last night I'd gone to Zumba Toning and made myself all kinds of sore...so really, most likely I would have been walking like I were elderly today no matter what!) but hoping that time and (lame non-prescription) painkillers will help things feel better quickly.

OH. Other huge News in the Life of Erika. I can't believe I forgot to mention this yesterday. While at Six Flags, in between losing earrings and judging teenagers, I got some cotton candy. Yeah. It was magical, and although I had every intention of getting a picture of me eating it (like this), the truth is that I inhaled it far too quickly and with too much enthusiasm to stop and take a picture. But the ecstasy of those moments lives on in my mind. Oh cotton candy, how delightful you were. It was the pink kind, by the way. As though there is any other kind. And as fluffy and sweet as...umm...as cotton candy. In other words, perfection. And now that I have waxed poetic about my favorite food group, I better peace out.