IN SEARCH OF STRING?

In search of string?  Have you checked out your string drawer lately?  Nothing there?  Search everywhere?  Shops as well?  No?  What happened to the plethora of string we used to have around our houses?  What happened to all that string  with which Yester, Marash Girl's grandmother, would tie her packages before mailing them to Massachusetts from her home in Los Angeles, California?

Years ago, Marash Girl read a collection of short essays entitled, 

Pieces of StringToo Short to Save: A Memoir About Life, Journalism and Foreign Service written by Bob Chancellor, the title drawn from the box of string that the author had found in his grandmother's house, a box on which was written,  "Pieces of String Too Short To Save".  The book came to mind when, recently, Marash Girl's daughter called her, desperate to find string to hang the piñata she had made for Raffi's 10th birthday party.  She had had no problem finding the materials with which to make the piñata, but when it came to hanging the piñata, there was no store within miles of her home that carried such an old-fashioned item as string.  Marash Girl assured her that there was much string in the string drawer in her Newton kitchen, or in the boot of her automobile, or in the box down the cellar, but when she went to find the string, there was none to be found . . . Lucky for Marash Girl, though, there was a Walgreen's around the corner, a Walgreen's that, after much hunting, came up with a small but pricey package of string with which to hang the piñata, string which traveled yesterday from Massachusetts all the way to Maryland, via plane, string which ultimately made 20 10 year old boys and Raffi very happy on Raffi's 10th birthday.  Happy Birthday, Raffi!