A Single Earring

You know when you have those days when nothing seems to go right and everything is harder than it ought to be? Well, I've been having that day for the past month. Today seemed to be my absolute breaking point when I lost an earring. This sounds ridiculous, I know. In fact, it doesn't just sound so, it IS ridiculous.

But seriously, few tragedies are worse than losing a single earring, a single glove, a single sock. These things are meant to be pairs! My lost earring was one of my everyday pair. The pair I put on every single morning just after fumbling for my glasses and just before brushing my teeth. Yet today, as I walked home from the grocery, I realised that one lobe was completely bare, its usual decoration unhinged and discarded, lost somewhere between the way-too-shiny-veg aisle and the surly cashier. And I broke. How is my life to continue without two earrings to put on in the morning?

I could be happy, I would be happy, if only I had two earrings to wear every day, more money in my bank account, fluffier pillows on my bed, newer shoes, a trendier coat, more books, better glasses; I could be happy, I would be happy, if only I were stronger, smarter, taller, more attractive.

Then I saw this beautiful film made by a group of Dutch film makers during the 48 Hour Film Project in Utrecht. It's called Page 23. Things don't equate to happiness, or any sort of meaning at all for that matter. Stuff is just stuff and we all kid ourselves into thinking that a pair of earrings to put on in the morning [insert your own equivalent here] makes our lives complete.

"Amazingly beautiful, yet hopelessly impractical"

In the end, I think I'll be ok with a single earring.