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Warner smiled at his seven-year-old niece sitting across the table. He followed her eyes and she drew his attention to something on the table and wanted him to see it without her pointing it out.
He picked up the blue interwoven rubber band bracelet and asked, “This for me?”
Tonia nodded.
“Ah thanks. I’ll wear it and when I look at it I’ll think of you and remember to pray for you.”
She smiled but didn’t say anything.
True to his word, Warner wore it everywhere he went: at work, in the gym, at church, and in front of the TV or computer. He took it off at night and when he showered, but he tried to keep his promise of wearing it for his niece. The tangible reminder would benefit both of them: she’d be prayed for and he’d get to do the praying.
The bracelet was an easy thing to forget wearing and if he took it off, he made it a point to put it back on.
Getting out of the car at the store one Saturday, Warner realized he wasn’t wearing the bracelet.
“Honey, you seen my bracelet?” Warner asked.
“No, but I wasn’t looking for it. Last I saw it was on the bathroom sink.”
“Yeah, I’ve worn it since then. I just can’t…I’m trying to retrace my steps and can’t think of where it fell off.”
“It’s no big deal. We can make you a new one.”
“Yeah, but it is a big deal. Tonia’s depending on me to wear it.”
“Depending? That’s a bit of an overstatement, Warner. Don’t overthink this, Warner. Have her make you a new one. Tell her you lost it. She’ll understand.”
Warner knew she was right but that wasn’t the point. The bracelet itself could be made or bought for less than a dollar but it was the meaning behind him wearing it.
When he got home, he searched the house from top to bottom, retracing his steps over the past 24 hours. They only had five rooms plus a bathroom and a garage.
“The garage!” he shouted.
There, next to the car wash soap was his bracelet in two pieces.
In his rush to take it off to wash the car, one of the bands broke so the entire bracelet was useless.
In his mind, losing it was one thing, but breaking it was something else entirely, no doubt a difference without a distinction.
The Bracelet
I had a friendship bracelet that a good friend gave me I wore that thing till it was so worn and thin that it finally fell off. I phoned Diana and told her what had happened she said that's OK and will always be besties!