Learning to exercise patience
When the mandatory evacuation for Los Alamos was declared due to the Las Conchas fire, I packed my bags in preparation for an indefinite time away from home. I laughed to myself when I saw my parent's backpacks compared to my bulging rolling suitcase. I pretty much shook my entire bathroom into my suitcase. I also collected a hodge-podge of items to be safe from any potential flames that meandered into my second-story apartment - two journals and a random assortment of jewelry.
After returning home Sunday I discovered the greatest threat to my jewelry was not fire, but in fact, me.
A birthstone ring I had bought in a Turkish bazaar during a trip with my grandparents dangled from within a huge snarl that was once two separate necklaces. One was a sliver cross my grandparents had given me one Christmas a long time ago and the other was a gold ice skate my father had given me at another long-ago Christmas.
I sat down with the huge clump of silver and gold and proceeded to try and detangle. My nails pinched away at the tangles and knots. A half-hour passed; then an hour. The snarl only seemed to change forms rather than get smaller. I would study the twisting and winding of the different chains but the lines only seemed to disappear into a chaotic mess. But I wouldn't give up. Any mess, no matter how large, can be righted. You just need patience. This is what I told myself as I desperately tried to shake out the knots in the jewelry.
Slowly, the jewelry unwounded and became two separated necklaces again. I breathed a sigh of relief. Patience does pay off.
After returning home Sunday I discovered the greatest threat to my jewelry was not fire, but in fact, me.
A birthstone ring I had bought in a Turkish bazaar during a trip with my grandparents dangled from within a huge snarl that was once two separate necklaces. One was a sliver cross my grandparents had given me one Christmas a long time ago and the other was a gold ice skate my father had given me at another long-ago Christmas.
I sat down with the huge clump of silver and gold and proceeded to try and detangle. My nails pinched away at the tangles and knots. A half-hour passed; then an hour. The snarl only seemed to change forms rather than get smaller. I would study the twisting and winding of the different chains but the lines only seemed to disappear into a chaotic mess. But I wouldn't give up. Any mess, no matter how large, can be righted. You just need patience. This is what I told myself as I desperately tried to shake out the knots in the jewelry.
Slowly, the jewelry unwounded and became two separated necklaces again. I breathed a sigh of relief. Patience does pay off.
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