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August 31, 2021: Small Things are Big Things

A few weeks ago, I was working in the Meeting House. I was, I thought, wearing my hearing aid. I reached up (this being a matter of routine) and touched my left ear. I then cursed as I realized that it was missing. I felt my hair, and around my ears, but it was gone, as in really gone.

I searched around, quietly because I didn’t want the lone volunteer to know it was missing. It was getting late and I didn’t want assistance finding it. Rather, I just wanted to be alone.

She left as Pete arrived. I told him. He said repeatedly that he thought it was in a box. I kept thinking it was on the floor, which was why I scoured the room.


Alys and Tyra


We had not yet been to Costco to see about getting a replacement. It was on my dreaded list of things to do. My dreaded list is quite lengthy, and this was towards the bottom. In the meantime, I strained to hear what people were saying. I’ve actually become quite used to wearing the hearing aids. They aren’t visible, and so no one knows the difference.

All is right in the universe if I know where my glasses, wallet, Swiss Army knife, and cell phone are. Add to this list hearing aids. Usually, one of these things is missing, leaving me with a nagging sense that all will not be right until I find it.

Today I continued to categorize books and shelve them. This is a slow, laborious, tedious, time-consuming, and somewhat thankless task. In a perfect world, I would salvage and sort. Being the Jill of all Trades is a very challenging endeavor; in time I hope for this kind of assistance.

Anyhow, I was pulling the books out of the last box of books to be shelved, and there it was, at the bottom. The odds of my finding this small item was close to zilch because I have not made it a habit of looking closely at the bottom of the hundred-or-so boxes that once contained books.

I couldn’t believe it. There it was. I picked it up carefully and put it in my cargo pants pocket. And every so often I reached down and felt it, in order to make sure that I wasn’t imagining this.

The very odd thing about this is that after finding it, I felt a sense of well-being, one that enabled me to happily progress with my day. I filled the new bookcase in the basement of the Koslosky building, and then drove to the Alaska State Fairgrounds where I dropped off two more boxes of children’s books.

My mood was of course heightened by the fact that the sun had continued to shine brightly all day.

Upon arriving home, I put it with its mate, and put the box on a shelf in the living room. And there it now resides. For now, a brief moment in time, everything is where it should be.

Next: 241.9/1/21: My Yearly Rant: It’s again Hunting Season

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