Warm Ears

I walk my dog twice a day, and in the cold months I wear a headband to keep my ears warm. My ears are particularly sensitive to the cold. A few years ago, I bought the perfect headband from Lands End catalog. It was stretchy enough to fit (due to my excessive brain power I have, shall we say, a large hat size), it didn't itch, and it truly kept my ears warm. For the last couple days I couldn't find it. This morning I wore a headband that was not quite large enough, that itched, and that did not keep my ears as warm. But at one of the many bushes my dog stops to investigate (an article I once read called it "reading p-mails" from other dogs), in the top branches, there was my headband. As it was damp, I simply carried it with me, but I'm glad to have it back. Either I dropped it there, or the homeowner found it and put it there to be claimed. I could have dropped it on one of the days when it was warmer than I expected so I took the headband off and stuck it in my coat pocket (which is too small to hold it).

It reminded me of a story I once read about C.S. Lewis, that while walking with a friend in the damp gardens of Oxford, they saw a strange object in a tree. Lewis exclaimed, "That looks like my hat." Picking it up, he shouted exultantly, "It is my hat!" and put the sopping wet, shapeless object on his head immediately.

I'm a less amusing person than Lewis, so I'll simply wear my headband after it's dry.