Just over 33 years ago a very unsuspecting 17 year old girl removed the gift wrap from a tiny little box and inside that box she found a Black Hills Gold ring.  It was a graduation gift given to her from her parents and her sister and brother-in-law.  It’s a ring that has been by her side every since that day….that is until the other night when that unsuspecting 49 year old woman brushed her right hand across the fingers on her left hand and realized that her “gold” friend was no longer wrapped around her middle finger or her ring finger nor was it any where near the places she was sure it may have fallen.

I’m not sure why, but the other night, just as I was about to doze off, I decided to see which finger my “graduation ring” was on and as you just read in the previous paragraph, it was GONE!

It had been nearly 3 years since I had removed my wedding ring and a few months back I decided my ring finger looked sort of bare so I decided to evict the tenant on my middle finger and encouraged it to relocate to the vacated ring finger it had been neighbors with for quite some time.  I knew it was going to enjoy the more spacious appendage giving it ample opportunities to roll around and see the world from a totally different perspective but what I didn’t know is that my ring finger had completely different plans and a part of those plans didn’t include another ring….at least not right now!

What’s so weird about this ring thing is the fact that no matter how many times I moved it from my middle finger to my ring finger, it always mysteriously found it’s way back to my middle finger.  I didn’t always notice it right away but when I did, I would chuckle a bit and up until this past weekend, I would move it back.  This weekend it wasn’t there to move back to the old place.  It was gone.  I was heart broken.  Before leaving for my mother’s birthday party I remember talking to Don on the phone and I remember shedding some tears and I also remember him telling me we would find it if we had to tear the house apart.  He’s my hero and when I cry and he always tries to find a way to give me a reason to believe everything is going to be “just fine.”  Those words used to be my words and I used them often and now he’s using them to comfort me.

It wasn’t long before I was on the road and a few hours later I found myself sitting at my mother’s dining room table with Don, my sister, my aunt and uncle and my mother.  It was a party to celebrate my mother’s milestone birthday and once we had all enjoyed a slice of angel food cake with fresh strawberries and cool whip it was time for presents.  I retrieved the oval shaped butterfly box I had tucked my mother’s gift inside from the luggage I had moved in from my car as I planned to stay for a few days.  The box looked like a small suitcase with a tiny little gold buckle that was situated just below the handle.  I could see mom was struggling to get it unlatched so my aunt helped her out and once the tissue paper surrounding  the contents was pushed aside, my mom discovered the rhinestone studded initial pin that I knew she would love as she has always loved that type of thing.  She moved it aside and next she discovered the striped roll up sleeve blouse she was most likely expecting as I always like to replenish her wardrobe with at least one pretty blouse per year.   At this point I knew there was nothing else in the butterfly box but she didn’t so she took hold of the blouse and it wasn’t hard to see she had spotted something more hidden beneath it.  At this moment time appeared to slip into slow motion and I remember how the elderly woman with the stiff shoulder and weak left arm took hold of that blouse and sent it sailing into midair and with eyes as big as golf balls she shouted out something I will never forget as long as I live.  “A RING!!!!” For a gazillionth of a second I thought to myself, “Hmmmm, I didn’t give her a ring.”  and then I realized “THE RING!” was “MY RING!” and it had fallen off inside the box when I was wrapping her gift the night before.  She was a little bummed when she found out it wasn’t part of her gift but was happy when she was saw how happy it made me to have it back!

I’m not incredibly materialistic but I do possess a few things that have a tremendous amount of sentimental value and this ring just happens to be one of those things.  I suppose it’s good to have a situation like this once in a while.  It tends to put things into perspective and helps a person to realize that it’s the little things that are most important and sometimes those little things are little rings that remind you of your loved ones each and every time it catches your eye!