Farewell good friend

O sunglasses. You were a good and trusted companion now for this past month in Europa. You shielded my eyes from the sun in nations across the continent, and asked nothing in return. Indeed, you only cost 15 bucks, a virtual steal for the value, at the Tysons Corner Hechts. And while I purchased you near enough to the women`s clothing section that I was never altogether sure you weren`t actually intended for a lady`s cranium, you fit my unusually long face (as some of the BR have less than kindly pointed out) perfectly, regardless of the gender for which you were intended.

Twice I thought I had lost you forever. First, when I left you in the luggage room in Dresden, and only discovered you a day later when I picked up my duffel bag. Second, when I wrote you off as missing in Budapest, only to find you hiding in the dregs of aforementioned duffel. But the third time was to be the last. I believe it was at that overpriced internet cafe in Innsbruck, where I must have left you on the counter as I wandered out, too irritated at the .20 euro/minute rate to take care to remember you, with nightfall preventing me from noticing your absence.

One could say that four weeks means nothing, that it is but a trivial amount of time in the grand scheme. Yet for those who know me better, four weeks represents by far the longest I have been able to hang on to a pair of sunglasses, and thus this time was indeed truly special. Yes, sunglasses, as I am hiking tomorrow in the Liechtenstein highlands, with the sun bright in my unshielded eyes, you truly will be missed. Arrivaderci.