We bid farewell to guests that Wednesday morning, and work went on as it had been for the remainder of the week. On Friday afternoon, we packed our little bags for a weekend in the city. It was the first time all summer we'd made an effort to frolic as a family of five (the kids had each had one or two particularly satisfying summer adventures, but mom and dad were due!). We parked at a light rail stop and took the train into the heart of downtown. What a little online lodging special, a big ole' hot buffet breakfast and a king sized bed will do! Add that to fun with the kids, someone else doing the cooking for a series of meals, and significant decompression was mine.
Saturday night, I closed my book and fell promptly asleep. It was sometime not long before sunrise, I believe, when I dreamed that I held one of the bird plates in my hands. The weight and the slickness of the glaze felt real. When I woke, I reviewed what I had seen in my dream and felt a solid assurance that I would soon find the lost plates. We enjoyed the remainder of the final day of our mini-vacation and got home early evening. Luggage was unloaded, and I took the time to stash away some picnic gear that had been left in the kitchen since Tuesday. Down to the basement I went, to the room where I have pantry goods and back-up kitchen items, as well as a plethora of art supplies, from acrylics and pastels, drawers full of the kids' art, to glass sheets and tools for making panels of art glass. Tidy this, sort that away (it was clear that a kid or two had been digging into paper supplies as well in recent weeks), and there it was -- the little brown bag with the twine handle, tucked against the blank canvases on an eye-high shelf. What had been lost was found! Hallelujah :)
Needless to say, the hanging of the shelf took a few more weeks and the completion of a work-related deadline or three. So there we go. A simple thing, indeed. But a monumental simple thing in my little sphere.
I am happy.
