It happened again, the second time in two weeks. I counted the stockings I put in the washer, 10 the first week and 12 the second. I counted the stockings when I took them out of the washer, 9 and 11, respectively. I went through everything that I took out of the washer; I shook everything out. Both weeks, the missing stocking did not fall out onto the floor. Where did they go? It is almost as if they went down the drain. I took it a little further today and looked in places the missing stockings could have fallen. I found nothing but dust bunnies and I doubt that they will coalesce to form a single stocking. I am scratching my head and keeping the mateless stockings with the hope the missing ones will eventually show up.

That happened to me once. Some friends of ours traveled to Russia as part of an agricultural aid team. Because I have Russian ancestry, they brought me a small Orthodox icon. I kept it where I could easily see it. In 1992, I when I went to the hospital for treatment, I took my icon with me as a familiar reminder of home. It fulfilled its function very well. I carefully packed it in my suitcase when it was time to go home. When I unpacked my suitcase and put everything away, I could not find my icon. I searched in the folds and pockets of everything. I even looked between the floor boards in the attic where I took the suitcase to store it until the next time I needed it. Periodically during the coming months I would search for the missing icon and eventually came to the conclusion it was gone and that I was mistaken in that I never brought it home with me.

During the following years, once in a while, I would look in a drawer where I might have put the icon without success. Then earlier this year, it was just there on the coffee table with my sewing things. During the past 17 years, I cannot begin to tell you how many times I took everything off the coffee table to put them away and tidy the room. I cannot tell you how many times I changed the magazines on the coffee table. I cannot tell you how many times I put away and took out again the fabrics and threads on the coffee table.

It was just as if on that specific day an angel put my little icon squarely on the table where I could not miss it even if I was look actively looking for it.

So I keep my little mateless stockings with the hope their mates will show up some day.