The Earring
by Teresa
Gauthier
“I am so
excited to be in Puerto Vallarta. Sunshine, palm
trees, and my favorite couple,” gushed Marta.
She leaned into the front seat to touch the
shoulders of her friends, Katie and Karl. They
had just picked her up from the airport. As the
weather was warm and sticky, Marta pushed her
hair back to cool her neck and in doing so she
brushed her left ear. “Oh no,” she
exclaimed. “I have lost my earring!”
She frantically checked the back seat and her
clothing but her favorite gold hoop was nowhere
to be found. With a sickening feeling, she
recalled that at the airport, her mask had caught
momentarily on her earring. Her friends were
sympathetic, but they all agreed that finding it
would be impossible.
Marta was
determined not to let the loss impair her joy at
exploring this new city with her friends. But as
she was unpacking, she found herself thinking
about the earring. Her usual positive self-talk,
“It’s not a big deal. I can replace
them. The studs were a little warped and would
probably have broken soon,” was countered
with, “They were my favorite pair. John was
with me in Turkey when I bought them and I think
of him every time I put them on. Why did I bring
them? What was I thinking? I am so clumsy and I
was rushing and I wasn’t careful.”
Marta shook her head and said out loud to herself,
“Stop! This is just a challenge from the
universe. It’s minor compared to the loss of
my love. Things like this happen and I need to
stop beating myself up. Besides, maybe, just
maybe, somebody who needs it will find it and it
will bring them luck. Hmm, not sure how that
would work, unless someone had just one ear.”
By this time Marta was chuckling to herself. She
emerged from her room with a smile, ready to see
the sights.
***
She called
Katie a couple of months after her return from
Mexico just to catch up. She inquired about all
the people that she had met on her trip and about
the local activities that Katie and Karl were
involved with. “Katie, was the fundraiser
for the Girls’s school successful? Was it an
awful lot of work? When I toured it with you, I
just felt, I don’t know, warm and fuzzy. The
girls that I saw looked so animated and happy to
be there. So I am just wondering.” The girls’
school had been started a couple of years prior
by donations from many expats who lived and
supported the Puerto Vallarta community. Barriers
to education such as poverty, early marriage and
low expectations particularly impacted girls.
This school’s mission was to provide
opportunities for girls to get an early education
otherwise unavailable to them. The students
attended free of charge, and the family was only
required to support the student by ensuring she
got there.
“It
consumed a lot of my time for the last couple of
weeks, but it was wildly successful and a ton of
fun. We raised enough money to finance the
construction of the new building and enough to
fund operations for another year”, exclaimed
Katie.
“Oh Katie,
that is marvelous! I would have liked to attend.”
“Well,
come back for the next one. It will be an annual
event. But listen, I have to tell you about the
oddest thing. I know you will appreciate it”.
Katie told
Marta about a student who had missed a lot of
class. She often had to stay home and babysit her
younger siblings when her mom worked a day shift.
This girl was brilliant and diligent about her
homework, but her grades suffered due to her
attendance. The school wasn’t sure they
could offer her a slot for the next year and it
was a concern for all the staff. They wanted to
support this student, but little could be done.
Then all of a sudden this girl started showing up
every day and started to excel. At the recent
student conference, the teacher congratulated the
family on this change. Mom explained that a few
weeks before this, she had a change in her job
situation. She had been working at the airport,
as part of the custodial staff. While sweeping
the floor one day, she found something that
changed her life. She reported this to her
supervisor with the hope that the find could be
returned to the owner. Her supervisor shrugged
and said there was no “Lost and Found”
at the airport. “Keep it, maybe it will
bring you luck!” So she put it in her pocket.
On her way home, she examined the shiny gold
earring and she felt a little giddy. On impulse
and for the first time, she spent a few of her
hard-earned pesos on a lottery ticket. Her
husband was not happy when she told him, but he
was laughing and hugging her the next day. They
thanked God and prayed about what to do with her
winnings. She decided to quit her job and stay
home with her children. This meant assuring that
her eldest daughter would get to school each day.
In addition, she hoped, in the future, to follow
her dream to be a painter and a potter.
Katie finished
telling the story and waited for Marta to say
something. There was a long pause, and then Marta
said quietly, “Wow, that seems unbelievable.
I wonder what the earring was like?”
***
Later, before
she sealed the package, Marta slipped in a note, “Please
accept this earring as the mate to one you found.
Wear the pair with my blessing. All the best to
you and all your family. I have never been
happier to lose a treasure.”
The
Earring by Teresa Gauthier
Copyright April, 2024- All Rights Reserved
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