The wire on the left ear of my Shure E2c’s started fraying about a month ago. It was a simple case of the rubber coating around the wire getting worn in the area where it rubbed against the holder I wrapped them in during downtime. I knew that at some point the fray would start to effect the sound running through the wire and sure enough after about a month of exposure the sound indeed started to get static-y and then cut out altogether. No matter… new earbuds are a good investment… I use them up to three hours a day during my commute so I decided to update.

Cut to the Apple Store in Woodcliff Lake, NJ. While my wife actually pushed for the trip so she could hit the Children’s Place, I was happy to go along, a quick trip through the Apple retail universe. I didn’t head to Apple with the conscious intent of buying new earbuds… in fact I only remembered I needed them as I was turning to leave and caught the iPod accessory wall out of the corner of my eye.

Standing in front of the wall, hemming and hawing over whether to stay in the hundred dollar Shure range or slip down to the fifty dollar Sony pair I have used in the past, I caught a clip of the conversation between a young woman and her father (or father type). She was amazing over the size of the new iPod Nano and going on and on about how she would lose it in no time. I thought to myself: how in the world could you be so scattered as to lose something as important as an iPod? Silly girl.

A few moments later, I got off the fence and decided to go for broke and bought the Shure SE110s. In a rush to hear them I sat down on the bench outside the store, took out my iPod, and plugged in the jack… excellent sound, happy day, good buy. As my wife, mother-in-law and daughter strolled up the sidewalk toward me I started to put my gear away. After carefully slipping the iPod into it’s case I placed it on the bench next to me… and gathered up my new packages… and left… the iPod on the bench… alone.

Getting back into the car I was more interested in the score of the Rutgers game than in listening to tunes so the iPod’s absence didn’t register until later that night as I was on my way out to my brother’s for some Texas Hold-em. As I went to plug in my iPod for the ride it hit me… I was instantly taken back to the bench… fuck.

Resigned, defeated and depressed I put the loss out of my mind and headed to my brother’s… listening to FM radio. After a cigar, a glass of wine, and a bit of conversation, we jumped into cards. For some reason they came to me… the universe gave them to me. Great cards early… big stack of chips… good feelings back. All told I ended up with about sixty bucks toward a new iPod (or iPhone… not sure what to do).

As I write this I’m listening to my wife’s Nano… a freebee from some promotion a few years back. I think I’m going to wait and see what the universe kicks to me before I make my next move. Hopefully I’ll keep getting good cards to play and this weekend will stand as something of a turning point… a spot in time where the universe taught me that no matter what it might take from you it always gives something back… if you are open to it.

UPDATE: Some unbelievably kind soul has found my iPod and left it with the good people at the Apple Store in Woodcliff Lake. Thank you to that person, whoever you may be… and thank you to the universe for keeping things interesting.