UGLY TREASURE.

Although I would love to spend all my time adventuring, taking pictures and writing, I, like the rest of the country, do have to work!  However, business in the current pitifully sluggish construction industry demands that I expand my horizons a bit right now.  Last week I began working with a new contractor, doing some work I wouldn't normally take on--work that I normally leave to those who don't have my sensitive gag reflex or get so discouraged with human nature.  Regardless, I found myself in an OLD house that, despite having been completely remodeled, was still peppered with hints of its ancientness.  At one point I became so frustrated with my work, I scolded myself--You have a JOURNALISM DEGREE!  Why in the world are you doing this?  Some of you may be wondering the same thing I suppose!  I have written, quite prominently, on the lid of one of my work tubs one of my favorite quotes.  It says:

IN THE MUD AND SCUM OF THINGS, ALWAYS SOMETHING SINGS.

It reminds me every day--and especially those days when I feel like crawling into a closet and crying, to find my SONG--to remember why it is that I continue to do what I do--despite possessing a fancy journalism degree.  I pushed through the mud and scum of my particularly bad "old house" moment but admittedly didn't exactly find the SONG of the situation for several hours--when I found an actual treasure!  In THE most disgusting of places (a heating vent) I discovered the ring pictured above!  In fact, it clogged my Shop-Vac and literally stopped me in my tracks.  There, jammed in the hose along with a wad of unidentified grossness was this opal ring.  It is, admittedly, a very strange ring but I suppose that's why I immediately fell in love with it!  And here is the very best part . . . 

  

IT FITS PERFECTLY!

I do not have dainty fingers and was completely surprised when I instinctively tried it on and found it FIT PERFECTLY!  I have since polished up my new piece of jewelry and wear the ugly thing with pride!  In fact, I'm finding that my new ring is a very visual reminder.  I found my treasure in a place I didn't want to be, in the the very darkest of holes.  It is so very symbolic of the treasure I found during some of MY darkest, ugliest days.  If it weren't for the fact that I walked through that darkness (surrounded and supported by my amazing family and friends) I would never have--NEVER BE--what I am today!  I'll be the first to admit that I am certainly a STRANGE treasure but the true happiness and contentment I have found have me loving life in a way I never thought possible.  In fact, chances are, if you happen to spot me wearing my UGLY TREASURE there will most likely be a SMILE plastered upon my face--a true reflection of my SONG despite the mud and scum of things.