Happy find

I think we can all agree that moving isn't a lot of fun, particularly when one moves an extreme distance, say 8,000 miles, and it involves a large body of water and multiple continents.  (Yes, I know you must have all those conditions to have multiple continents when originating from the United States.)

Perhaps because of my involvement with the liturgy committee, last year I became obsessed with finding the prayer book I received at confirmation.  I was certain that it was packed in the boxes I had shipped.  I was positive.  I was so excited when my boxes finally arrived, partly because it was lovely to be reunited with my stuff (which only emphasized what an American I am), but partly because the boxes contained my prayer book.

Except that they didn't.  I wondered if someone broke into the boxes and stole it.  The boxes certainly weren't in the pristine condition in which I had shipped them, though they held up well across the distance and oceans and continents.  Why someone would take a prayer book is beyond me, but hey.  Stranger things have happened.

One of my missions in Virginia was to obtain my recipe box, which I knew I had left here, and search for the prayer book.  Now the search was a matter of principle, and no small bit of sentimentality.  In searching my mind, I thought perhaps it was in a certain bag.

Except that it wasn't in the bag.  I was so disappointed, but kept on with my visit here, and realized that soon I have to leave, and if I wanted my recipe box, I needed to get it out.

Guess what I found!  My prayer book!  Hallelujah!!  And a beautiful pashmina, and a Biblical Greek cheat sheet, and a bunch of other things that I wish would fit in my suitcase.