About 2 weeks ago, I lost a very big piece of me: my earring. Before you start laughing, please hear me out.
Since I was about 5 years old, I’ve worn these little gold hoops. My mother bought them in Nigeria in the 90s, brought them to the US when she immigrated, then gifted them to me when I was 5. I’ve worn these earrings every day of my life since then.
Anytime, I felt a little stressed or anxious, I would play with one of the hoops. Every morning, even if I was running late for school, I would make sure to put those earrings on. Those hoops have been with me through thick and thin. Losing one of them has been devastating.
I remember that day I lost them so clearly. At some point between walking from my study spot to my dorm, the earring fell somewhere on the ground. The clasp on one of the earrings is loose, and it fell out of my ear. I searched campus for 2 hours including places I hadn’t even been to that day.
I never found the earring that night, or the next day, or the next week. It’s gone, and I’m having trouble accepting that. I keep telling myself that “it’s just an earring”. “Why am I getting so hung up on a material item?”
Looking at it now, I realize that it’s okay for me to grieve the loss of my earring. I wore those hoops everyday for over a decade. I wore them on my first day of fourth grade, my high school graduation. Every important milestone in my life was accompanied by these earrings.
With this story, I wanted to tell you guys that when you lose something that means something to you, it’s okay to mourn. You just lost something that’s a piece of your history, a piece of you. A loss like that deserves some grieving.
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I love this article!!! This past Christmas my grandmother gave me her gold hoop earrings that she got from Mexico when she was a girl and has worn ever since. I hope to take them on a new journey in my life just as she did.