In the past two weeks I’ve stumbled across a few things I’d been missing for a long time… So long I’d actually stopped looking for them. I’m taking it as a good omen.

This week it was three silver rings — not valuable really, but sentimental. They went missing a year ago when I was home for Christmas. I turned the house upside down before I left and so did my mom, but they were nowhere to be found. I missed them for months, especially the irreplaceable blue labradorite one I found in the Caribbean. But after a year, I’d nearly forgotten about them.

Yesterday I did laundry for the first time since coming home, and when I opened the dryer, heard mysterious clanking and was surprised to discover my three missing rings at the bottom of the dryer. All this time they must have been in the pocket of the bathrobe I wear only when I am home, safely folded away in the closet while I’d been missing them. The only sad part about finding them was that the blue stone had gone missing.

My discovery last week was my knight in shining armor.

Let me explain: many years ago on my first foray to Europe, I bought a box of small novelty “knights” — silver figurines about an inch and a half high. I gave them as gifts to my single girlfriends to remind them of hope and dreams. And for years I kept mine by my bed and when I looked at it, prayed for my future husband. Earlier this year, simultaneous with a new relationship in my life, I suddenly realized I hadn’t seen it for awhile. Oh well, I thought — perhaps I didn’t need him anymore. After all, I had a real live person instead.

On my way home for Christmas I stopped in Seattle and at the last minute decided to go through two boxes I’d left stored in my friend’s garage. As I sorted through trinkets and keepsakes, I happened to open a small box. Inside, among other random things, rested my missing knight. I had to smile. The discovery meant more because the real live person wasn’t in my life anymore. It was like a promise that after all that time, my knight in shining armor was still waiting.

Three silver rings, and a knight in shining armor…

I’m not sure what the lesson is from these serendipitous discoveries. Maybe it’s a reminder that you tend to find things when you stop looking for them. Maybe sometimes it means when you find the things you were looking for, they aren’t the same as you remember them. Or maybe it’s about trusting that even when something seems hopelessly lost, it might really just be somewhere for safekeeping, and it will mean more when you find it again.

This past year of my life in some ways feels like a long detour. It was different than any other, in so many ways. I know I learned things and I hope I carry the best parts of that adventure into my future. But I’m anxious to keep on with my true path and get back to discovering things — including myself. There are some things that have been missing in my life for awhile. And maybe when I’m not looking for them, they will find me again.

“For everything you have missed, you have gained something else, and for everything you gain, you lose something else.”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson