No Spares

I always pack more than I need - of everything. I count out the number of days I'll be gone and pack underwear for each day plus three. (You never know when someone will dump a pitcher of water in your lap.) An extra pair of jeans (for the same reason). Clothes for a visit to a "nice" restaurant. Shoes for every occasion and of course jewelry to go with the clothes.This often means a special ring or necklace to wear with a particular outfit and one or more spare pairs of earrings.

But this trip was a bit different. I still packed the extra underwear, the extra jeans, the completely unnecessary clothes for the "nice" restaurant and a few sweaters that didn't get worn. I wore one pair of shoes and packed another - in addition to The Cruel Boots. But I didn't take any spare jewelry.

My reasoning was that we were visiting family and doing a short canal boat trip. A canal boat trip is a bit like camping. How much jewelry do you need? When I left the house for the airport, I was wearing my wedding rings, my gold and silver heart ring, my Chinese "long life" pendant, and my ancient Brighton earrings. It was really all I needed.

But then, on the second day of the canal boat trip, one of the earrings kept catching on the scarf I was wearing and it was starting to get a bit aggravating. The third time I attempted to free it, it broke in my hand. Eeeeek! No way to fix it and no spares. We still had a full week to go and my ears would have to be naked. I can go out without lipstick easier than I can go out with naked ears.

I believe I've had those earrings for something like 20 years. Mark said we would shop for new ones when we got to Llangollen. It's not as easy as it sounds. I am one of the few people in the world who actually wear clip earrings. There is no Brighton store and no Sam Moon store and no SteinMart in Llangollen. Therefore, a shopping trip for earrings was completely out of the question.

Like everyone else, I had my ears pierced in high school, but by the time I was 22, wearing earrings had caused my ears to tear. I had them stitched back up and then re-pierced a year later. I was admonished not to wear anything that dangled - studs only. It didn't matter. The holes in my ears just expanded until the entire stud could pass through the hole. I was afraid of losing earrings, so I started wearing clips. This happened long before I ever met Mark. However, being an engineer, Mark sees this is an engineering problem. He has offered to "re-engineer" my ears so that I'll be able to wear pierced earrings. But seriously, we're talking about my ears. These are body parts, not a shelving system for the garage. I'm okay with clips. Really.

This was one of the few pairs of earrings I own that I could wear for hours on end without any pinching or discomfort. I sure hope they can be fixed or that the Brighton store will have something similar.