One sweet thing about pulling out all your winter gear is reaching into a coat pocket for the first time in 6 months and getting lucky enough to pull out a piece of treasure: a $10 bill, the missing pair of earrings, or a piece of candy. (Tootsie rolls never go bad.) Putting away my shorts this year, I stuffed their pockets with goodies in hopes they’d take the focus off the embarrassment of the blinding pale of my legs after 6 months without sun exposure.

Yesterday, I found treasure even sweeter than sugar. As I was going through some old computer files, I found an article I wrote on spec for a travel website in 2004 that was never published. (I do not even remember writing the article, let alone feeling jaded by the request-and-run editor. Perhaps I just blocked the rejection – a common defense mechanism of writers.)

Like money and sugar candies, the article was still good after years of just sitting there. I submitted it in full to another publication hoping they’d like it. Two days later, I get an offer for $125 for First North American rights. How’s that for pocket lint?

Today, I am grateful for hidden treasures that I am unknowingly planting for my future self to find.