The Life of Pearl

Pearl sat with her sister, Pearla (their parents weren't that creative), under the glass in a little velvet box.  They had two friends, Dia and Mond, and together the four of them perched in their little gold shaped J, happily watching the world walk by.  Each evening they were covered up, and every morning the glass case was washed, the lights turned on so that Pearl, Pearla, Dia and Mond shined their brightest.

There was one face the four got to know very well.  She would stop by weekly, say hello, chat about "never buying things that nice" and "lose things all the time" and then leave.  Pearl was ok with that.  She liked her little box, her sister and friends, her comfy gold J hook.  Life was easy.  Maybe a bit static, Pearla would say boring, but easy.

Then one day, Pearl was removed from the glass case.  The lady who cleaned their glass every morning handed the velvet box to a man with a Clark Kent wave in his hair and a beard.  He smiled, spoke to the lady, and then the velvet box was closed.  Pearl, Pearla, Dia and Mond were jostled and bumped around for quite a while.  Then all was still and silent.  The four friends sat in the dark, wondering what on earth was happening.  Finally, feeling very uneasy, they all fell asleep.

Pearl woke first, but the box was still closed, it was still dark and silent.  She knew something was up.  The lights should've been switched on, the box opened, the glass cleaned by now.  She knew they were no longer in their safe little home.  Pearla was excited, as were Dia and Mond.  But Pearl was sad.  She would miss watching the faces go by, and she never would get to say goodbye to the one face they saw weekly.

Then one day, they were jostled a bit more, but when their box settled again, they smelled a new smell.  Pearl didn't know how, but she knew it was an outdoorsy smell.  A piney smell.

After an hour or two, the box was moved and opened.  And there was the face!  The face that had admired them weekly, the face that had always moved on without touching them.  She was holding their box!  She was taking first Pearl and Dia, and then Pearla and Mond out of the case and fastening them in her ears.  A mirror was held up to the face, and Pearl could see her new home.  A nice little ear, now shining with new pearl and diamond earrings.  Pearl shined as brightly as she could - she knew she was home for good.

For 4 years, Pearl and Pearla, Dia and Mond, sat in those ears, shining and seeing the world with their friendly new face.
One night, they were placed in a pocket.  Pearl wasn't concerned, this happened often, but always, in the morning, they would find their way back to the ear.

This night was different though.  When morning came, it came much earlier than usual.  And instead of being placed in the face's ear, she found herself flying threw the air, landing under a bed.  She heard the face cry out, she saw the face's hands searching everywhere, but never finding Pearl.  And then a box was dragged over Pearl!

Pearl and Dia were thankful for plushy carpet, for instead of being crushed by the box, they were merely nestled down deeper into carpet fiber.  But thankful for the carpet or not, Pearl was distressed.  The face would never find her here.  They would be lost forever!

And they almost were.  It was a full year later when the face pulled the box out from under the bed, rifled through it, and then slid it back.  Somehow, when the box slid back into place, it caught Pearl and popped her up out of her cave of carpet.  A gasp - a cry - and then, yes there was the face, the mirror, the familiar ear!
Pearl and Dia were back home.  Pearla and Mond were pulled from a box in a drawer where they had been placed, and they too were back in their familiar ear.

Pearl and Pearla, Dia and Mond, were all back together again.  And not merely back together, but back with the face, with the ears, with the curly hair.  The face told the man with the Clark Kent wave about how she had found them, about how happy she was to know she hadn't lost her nice things forever.  And that night, the four friends weren't put in a pocket, or on a table, but were left in their familiar ears, where they slept peacefully for the first time in a year.

Someday She'll Have A Butterfly Tattoo

Curly Girl is obsessed with butterflies. I believe this obsession came about last summer on an evening's walk. We came home to find at least a hundred butterflies nesting in the lower branches of the tree at the end of our driveway.

This July 4th, the obsession began anew, when one butterfly kept landing on my shoulder or my hair as I played with Curly Girl and Boy in the back yard.

Soon, Curly Girl was demanding "Find butterfly, land my arm." This is her 2.5 yr old speech for "Mom, find me a butterfly to land on my arm."

So, being the marvelous mama I am, we began a butterfly hunt. We didn't have a net or a basket or any other gear, but we did have an improvised Butterfly hunting song! Sung to the first two lines of the chorus of "Dwelling In Beulah Land", here is our song:

Oh we're hunting for butterflies to land on Girlie's arm

Yes, we're scouting for butterflies, and we won't do them any harm

Later on I added these lines:

For we love those pretty butterflies who flutter 'round our lawn

Oh we are hunting for butterflies.

When we couldn't get a butterfly to land on Curly Girl's arm, she desolved into tears. This was not one of my favorite things, but I was able to stop the tears by asking "Would you like to paint a picture of a butterfly?"

Fingerpainting is one of Curly Girl's absolute favorite activities, so she skipped inside, completely happy to paint a butterfly picture. That picture is on our dining room table right now. I'm searching for just the right frame to hang it in her room.

I've also written this story out in my journal of "Things I Don't Want You To Forget" (where I record my wisdom and little stories for my kids to enjoy when they're older and I'm not around, hopefully a long long time from now).