I picked up this card in a parking lot at one of our state parks after a hike a few years ago. Why do I still have it? I guess I’ve not completely given up my tendency to be a bit of a pack rat, especially intriguing little odds and ends.

When I was a child, I tucked things away in my room in little boxes or containers and thought of them as my treasures. One time I went to the Rose Gardens and created a little hole in the ground for some of these tiny treasures on a little hill just up from Dupont Avenue. I covered it over carefully and delighted to come back now and again to see if they were still there. The day inevitably came when the hole came up empty. I consoled myself with the thought that perhaps another pack rat had come upon my eclectic cache and felt like they’d struck the mother lode. I know it would have been a dream come true for me to come across something like that.

Anyway, the design on the back of the card appealed to me, the owls and other birds taking their places on the ornate circle of swirling leaves on vines. The other side shows what a beating the card had taken, being driven over at least once, I think. Someone lost just one card while they were at the park, the three of hearts. Did they go home to play a game and mourn to find out that their favorite deck was missing a card?

I actually lost one of my favorite barrettes on one of those hikes. It must have gotten caught on my hat and fallen to the ground when I took the hat off in the parking lot before getting into the car – I didn’t notice it until later. I went through the kind of mourning that you might do for a very trivial but valued thing. There was a short and meaningful memorial service that took place over only a few seconds in my mind. Did someone find that barrette and see it as a treasure? Or was it pitched unceremoniously in the nearest trash bin? Perhaps even now, someone is writing a blog post about the lost teal-colored barrette. Perhaps…

As for the card, I put it in the front zipper pocket of my Bible holder and there it resides to this day. Every once in a while I take it out, admire it, and put it back.

I’ll be burying this in a hole on blog hill in the morning.