Lost Cause  

A tiny silver hoop. Nothing fancy. Not even real silver, I’m pretty sure. I bought the pair at a kiosk near the shuk on a rushed Friday when I needed something simple. I didn’t even particularly like them. But they worked with the outfit.

And yet, there I was, kneeling on the bathroom floor, combing through the lint behind the hamper with a flashlight. My heart was thudding, and my hands were shaking like something much bigger was at stake.

I had already lost too much that week. Nothing significant, but still. So many little losses.

It started with my toddler’s pacifier — the one kind she actually liked. We had four backups, but none of them passed her rigorous approval process. She screamed for hours, as though the absence of that particular one signaled the end of her small world. I tried to soothe her, to tell her it wasn’t the end, but to be honest, I felt the same. Everything felt just a little out of place.