I have quite a collection of single earrings (19 at last count). For most, I have absolutely no hope of finding their missing mate, having mislaid the other half of the pair many years ago, in previous households, on long-forgotten outings, in another lifetime... I’m not entirely sure why I find it so difficult to part with those that remain behind.
However there is one earring that I believe I will one day be able to reunite with its partner. I bought the pair – dangly ones with lime-green crystal beads and blue-green seed-pearls – several years ago at the Eumundi Markets to match a treasured necklace given to me for my 50th birthday. I clearly recall the day I lost one of the pair. I was at a BBQ lunch with friends. With an uncharacteristically flamboyant flourish, I turned to talk to the person beside me, and my right earring (I remember it was the right one) was flung from my ear. I heard a distant tinkle and then nothing. Confident of finding it on the decking where we were having lunch, I searched on hands and knees for several minutes. Concluding that it must have “slipped through the cracks”, our host (first alone, embarrassed at what disarray might be found beneath the decking, and then resignedly with my husband’s help), went searching below. Despite their best efforts, they were unable to locate the errant earring.
I have since bought a replacement pair (from Glebe Markets) – quite pretty, but I’m not as fond of them as the originals. I still cherish the hope that one day my lost earring will be discovered by our friends (who still live at the same house): partially buried in the dusty soil, suspended in a stray wisp of spiderweb, just waiting patiently in the shadows to be reunited with its mate.
Penny
Sydney
Australia
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