Lost in the Woods

[hells_half_acre]

Somewhere between the lake and where I took the picture lies my necklace. There's an old path that meanders through the woods. I did the walk three times - once, slowly, taking pictures of the sunlit woods and old memories, and twice, frantically, with my eyes trained to the ground. I should have brought my camera the second time too, because the sunset lit up the trees beautifully around Canonto Lake, while I searched through the leaves at the shore for the third time.

I remember when Gabe gave me the necklace. I was visiting him in Germany, and had just arrived. I was supposed to be napping, but we were both too excited for me to even attempt sleep. So, he finally gave in and said, "I was going to give you these later, but since you aren't sleeping anyway..." I was shocked and perhaps made a joke about the end-times being nigh. It was the first time he had ever bought something for me for no particular reason. The crossbow gift of two years before had been the result of him being "an ass" (his words, not mine, though I didn't argue).  He bought the necklace in Bretagne/Brittany, while traveling with his parents. He gave it to me and said that he had carried it with him all over the south of France.  That month I spent in Germany with him was some of the best times I've ever spent with him.

That year had been so horrible to him...good to me, but horrible to him. When we lived apart, our happy and sad times never coincided really with one another. For some reason, I think that made them more manageable. As much as it's nice knowing you aren't the only one having problems, it's also nice knowing that you aren't dragging anyone down with you.

It's nice spending time with someone who genuinely appreciates having you around. It's why I didn't mind spending my birthday with just my mum up in the middle of nowhere. (Mum, incidentally, gave me two gorgeous necklaces for my birthday).

We are going up next weekend to look again. My Aunt and my cousin are coming to help too. It will be a week and a day later, but we are working on the assumption that no one else will find the necklace and remove it from the woods. I hope I find it, but if I don't, well, it's a nice stretch of woods to bury something important to me.