objects of our affection

When I was a teenager I lost my mom's wedding band. Not misplaced. Definitively gone, never to be seen again.

Gasp, right?

Believe it or not, it wasn't my fault. The story of how it came to be lost is a long and winding one that would take me off on a tangent, so I'll skip over that, and just assure you that it wasn't my fault. Really.

I was surprised when my widowed mother allowed me to wear the ring in the first place, considering the amount of sentimental value it must’ve held for her.

I bring up this sad ring story because I have never forgotten my mom’s reaction when I told her the ring was gone for good. I’ve drawn on that memory on several occasions throughout my life when the need arose. When I gave her the bad news about her wedding band, I was close to tears and shaking a little. She replied, "It's a shame it’s gone, honey, but it's not the end of the world. It's just a thing, it’s not a person or a pet."

Perhaps one of your parents has told you something similar? The wisdom of age is priceless.

Have you ever dropped a fragile item, one that is also expensive and/or rare, on a hard floor and watched helplessly as it shattered? If said item happened to be a bottle of perfume, did you then nearly burst into tears as you frantically tried to rub some of the precious liquid off the floor and onto your body while carefully avoiding the glass, attempting to salvage one last experience of that precious liquid?

Yeah, me too. Condolences to us all.

“Crash!” said that bottle of mine, “screw you and your concern with material things. It’s not good to be like this. Let me teach you a lesson.”

After every profane word I’ve ever learned left my mouth at least twice, and some three times (I don’t know about you, but mthr fckr, spoken three times rapid-fire and loudly is particularly therapeutic for me), I calmed myself down and called forth my mother’s mantra:

“Not the end of the world, it’s just a thing. ”“Not the end of the world, it’s just a thing.”

These days, I only handle my precious perfume bottles in the bedroom. There’s carpet in there.