Friday, July 3, 2009

Blondes and Diamonds

Stuff. It's summertime...just the right time for getting rid of all the things in my life that I simply don't need. Clear the wreckage, cart it all off, and make things more manageable. Well, the thinking and the intentions were all there. The feeble mind apparently was not.

I looked down at my finger yesterday and noticed that my diamond was missing! I'd just gotten to the mall, stopped in the ladies' room and realized with horror that perhaps it'd taken a trip down the drain never to be seen again. I retraced my steps, ransacked the trash-twice, and went to security to leave all my information. I even had a mother and her four children rolling underneath my car to no avail. My husband sat calmly, watching another chapter unfold...he's been there before with me, but this time, it seemed like the real deal. In fact, he was certain the ring was probably at the bottom of the Great Swamp.

Last night, I was awake at 1:30, 2:00, 2:30...you know the drill: retracing a week's worth of movements in my mind. Mental torture, plain and simple. This morning...I talked things over with a few friends, and everyone agreed that the best we could do was pray to St. Anthony. So...of course I did. And just as the song says--"he's gonna find me some piece of mind,"
that is exactly what happened. I returned home, went through the car and my pocketbook just one more time, and then gave it up. I walked back into my bedroom and glanced in my jewelry box...and of course, you know the rest. Lodged underneath a few other random items, a familiar sparkle caught my eye. My anniversary diamond! It was the first very real evidence that my husband had a drop of money to throw around after...fifteen years of marriage!

So how could it be that anyone would be so stupid as to lose a diamond? Multi-tasking: the art of cleaning the jewelry box while talking on the cell phone. I was slipping off my ring to try on all the old rings of my past...and I walked off and forgot to slip the right one back on! Once again, evidence of my true blondness!

Tomorrow, I'll be off to the food pantry with yet another loaf or two in the name of St. Anthony...patron saint to the abstract-random blondes in this world!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love your new decorations on your page....AhHA! you are so lucky. I think most women have had a close call or two misplacing their precious ring. But, I didn't wear my engagement ring most of the time. It only had four prongs, was a raised setting with two small diamonds on the sides. I didn't want to take a chance....Then one day when I was used to wearing it again, I decided to clean my oven...you know the whole thing : newspapers of the floor, Easy Off chemicals, rubber gloves, remove the doors ( two), etc. I was so proud that I had a sparkling clean oven, and I had actually put it all back together without help.
About two hours after dinner, I realized my ring was there....with a broken prong and...the diamond missing.....
I pulled apart the oven (again), searched every nook and cranny, the garbage disposal, the trash, I even pulled apart the central Vacuum Bag and tested the wall outlets to make sure nothing "rattled". No luck.
I didn't even tell my husband for two months...Maybe I would come across it's sparkle...I sweated about how to word it.... Well, he recently told me he priced replacing it. He said something about "we married almost 30 years, maybe"....Then he told me the replacement value! I almost had a heart attack! Forget it! I will just look at my wedding album if I want to know what It looked like! Besides, with five children, I wouldn't know which one to leave it to anyway.....
So, like I said, You are lucky...but DO take out an insurance policy on it!

gael lynch said...

Thanks, Anonymous! You are so right...it's always so strange the way we often have to learn to cherish things...and people too, after they're gone. Obviously, you loved your ring and took great care of it. Happenstance whisked it away...but the story still lingers! I was pulling for you the whole way, relating to that little sparkle of hope. I'm also pulling for that man in your life--let him do what's in his heart! Congrats on your almost 30 years of love...much more important than a ring! (Hope you've got a self-cleaning oven now!! ;)

Anonymous said...

Yes, I now have a Double self cleaning oven. He wasn't going to take any chances with the wedding band.