Loss. It’s inherent to Life. Built-in.

Socks. Loved ones. Friends. Treasured mementos.

Somedays I think all of life is preparation for the final LET GO. You know what I mean: think about how every attachment we ever have… we eventually give away?

On our first wedding anniversary, my husband began a tradition. He said he wanted to give me a ring every year. It would bring him great joy to fill up my hands with rings, he said. I agreed. Who am I to argue with LOVE?

14 years in, that was a lot of rings to track. Some rings I’ve lost only to find again. But with others, not so lucky.

The combination of my love for the sea + sunscreen took my first ring away, a cool rose gold thumb ring. Poof. Gone. Then the second ring, my favorite, gold with the deepest sea blue topaz you’ve ever known… gone in one mermaid wave so delightful that if I hadn’t had such a good time jumping around in it I would’ve cried a lot harder. I did cry a bit.

I would say I actually wailed.

…Because it’s hard to lose something that matters.

…Even if it is only a “thing,” things are symbolic, aren’t they?

Yet, some crazy magic happened directly from this loss (you knew there would be a cool plot twist, right?).

Soon after I lost the ring, and I decided to retire the ring tradition, we happened upon a beach full of sea glass.
The sea was the exact color of that beloved topaz ring.
And I became inspired by this marvelous synchronicity.

I brought some glass home, began playing around with it. I had taken a few classes in jewelry making, years ago. I remembered my maternal grandmother, who, after giving her a silver ring I’d designed decades ago, said how good I was, and might I consider making jewelry, professionally?

Nahhhhh…replied my 17 year old self.

Erm. Heck Yeah!… said my 47 year old self.

Now I’m making jewelry. Sea glass is my new Muse.

I remember, I had wailed, to the Sea… Why, oh why, when I love you so much, did you take my favorite rings?

She replied: Because I love you.

The Sea takes away and the Sea gives.

Life takes and Life gives. There is a Divine Balance.

It is easy to get caught up in loss, to forget to look for what’s being given. But you can train in the looking.

I certainly have. And here is what I’ve learned:
When something is taken away, something is always given.

I KNOW THIS: When we lose something, we are given something else… perhaps down the road, perhaps long after we’ve forgotten what it was we lost… we are given a new something that is needed for who we are today.

What have you lost recently? Instead of looking at what’s being taken away, try looking for what’s being given you.

When you learn to look for it, when you train in the looking…well, that’s when the true MAGIC happens.