missing

I still can't find the diamond stud earrings I wore to Houston but didn't wear back. I have no idea where I put them to bring them home. None whatsoever. My mind is a blank where packing up to come home is concerned. I have a good excuse, really -- I had just had major surgery and I was on some serious pain-killers, and those do things to your brain functions. Obviously, memory is one of them.

I feel terrible about this loss. I'm not the type of person who loses things, or even misplaces things. I'm the type of person who has a place for everything and puts everything away, because I'm easily overwhelmed by piles of clutter, and I don't want to waste my time looking for things. So I always put my keys in the same pocket of my purse, and I always put my purse on the hook in the hallway. It saves me an inordinate amount of time, not having to hunt around looking for things -- I'm teaching the kids the value of having a system like this for everything, basically.

So: normally if I weren't wearing the earrings, they'd be in my little travel jewelry case. They're not there, in fact I don't even remember if I took the case with me to Houston. How bad is that? I do recall that I had to take the earrings off at one point, and I stuck them in the change purse section of my wallet. I don't remember taking them out, but I do remember thinking I didn't want to keep them there, since the snap pops open frequently and I didn't want to lose them.

I really loved those earrings. They were very simple, but they were my present from DH and I wore them nearly every day. They were just perfect, and now they're gone. I have looked through every bag and suitcase that travelled with us, and I still have no idea where I put them to bring them home. It's possible they were in my wallet and fell out, but then I'd expect them to be in my purse, and they're not, I've checked there at least 3 times. They could've been tucked inside another bag or box, and been thrown away by accident, but I don't think I would've done anything daft like wrapped them in a tissue or something -- would I? Who knows what I was thinking! I've tried everything I can think of to jog my memory and nothing, absolutely nothing, is working. When I spoke to my Mom today I even asked her if she had seen them in a pocket when she was doing the laundry (she always checks the pockets, she's much better about that than I am), but she hadn't.

I hate this, I'm betrayed by my own stupid brain! This must be what having a disease like Alzheimer's is like, only much worse because it happens with all sorts of things. DH tells me not to be upset about it, but I am. He has already offered to buy me new earrings, but I'm clinging to the hope that the old ones will turn up somewhere. He's such a dear, in a way it just makes me feel worse. I know I shouldn't blame myself but how can I not? DH would say, be glad it wasn't anything important. I know they weren't important, but they were special, and I want them back.

Mom says to keep looking, you never know when they'll turn up. She has some great stories about things apparently phasing out of and back into this dimension, like the set of sterling silver that wasn't in the closet -- we all looked for it, it definitely wasn't there, until one day, it was. We still have no idea how that happened, but I know that it did. As irrational as it sounds, I still have some hope.