On Day 51, I wore earrings for the first time since the weekend before Katrina. I had been "adornment-less" for a month and a half.
In the rush to leave ahead of the storm, prioritizing what to take in the little time I had to do so, I couldn't bear to choose which of my jewelry to take and which to leave, so I left it all. I wasn't even wearing any. No earrings, no rings, no nothing. In retrospect, I could have just dumped the contents of my jewelry armoire into a paper bag, but the adrenaline rush had started at that point, and I had gone into life-saving mode.
When I found out that the storm surge had gone through my house, I resigned myself to having lost it all, knowing that the jewelry probably had been strewn all over the house by the floodwater, and it would be hard to find in the mud.
Wonder of wonders ... it turns out that when the bed became waterborne, the mattress and box springs floated over and pinned the jewelry armoire against the wall. Consequently, as the water receded and everything settled to the floor, the armoire stayed upright. I had a smaller jewelry box that was on top of my dresser, which for some reason likewise did not fall over. So I have almost all of my jewelry intact. Some of it didn't even get wet, although the innards of the armoire and jewelry box were getting moldy.
It took a while to get everything cleaned up (hydrogen peroxide is a wonderful thing). Yesterday, I wore my favorite pair of earrings. Call me vain, but it does make a difference.
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