I can honestly say I never ever ever ever in a million years expected this to happen. This is my therapy, putting it all down in words. Also the picture above has nothing to do with this post. I just fancy it.
Clint had been in town visiting for a few days and was packing up his things to head back to Starkville. I was attempting to help but honestly just ended up walking around the yard and saying “Need any help with anything?” every five or ten minutes. Luke was shooting the target with his new bow he had purchased over the weekend and the dogs were out on the lawn wrestling. It was the most gorgeous Tuesday afternoon you could imagine. The weekend had just ended for us (we always drag them out through Monday) and it was a blur of laughter, singing and playing air guitar in my kitchen. We had worn ourselves out and so on Tuesday, we were just relaxed-to-the-max.
The reason I have to tell everyone that we were very relaxed and nothing wild was going on is because I have this tiny itty bitty reputation for losing things, usually on weekends where I stay up too late. But in this case, I swear to you, I was calm as could be, soaking up the fall afternoon in my own backyard.
The last time I saw my diamond I was in the yard sitting on Luke’s lap and he was sitting on top of the bow target. Clint was standing in front of us and they were talking about ducks or deer or something hunting-related, and I remember glancing down at my left hand and noticing how sparkly the diamond looked in that moment.
Here are the events that happened after, leading up to the moment that I realized the diamond center stone to my ring was in fact missing.
-Clint asked me to help him hook up the trailer so he could bring it back to Starkville.
-Clint and I played with Foxy, the new puppy, for a few minutes and then he left for Starkville.
-Luke and I walked to the storage room to grab a fishing pole.
-Luke and I walked down to the bank and fished for about twenty minutes.
-We walked back up to the house and I chased the dogs around for two minutes.
-I walked up the stairs, into the kitchen and sat down at my computer.
-I glanced down at my hand while I was typing and realized my center stone was gone and there was a huge, empty hole in my setting.
Immediately I looked at Luke and no words were necessary. I held up my left hand and he saw the empty hole and said, “There is no way.” I froze and told him to come stand by my chair and when I stood up to check the floor and listen for anything that might fall out of my lap. I thought that just maybe the diamond might have fallen out when I was inside my house–but there was nothing.
Luke ran downstairs immediately and started scanning the lawn. I was already hopeless. I had been down by the lake, over in the side yard helping Clint with the trailer, in the storage room, chasing the dogs around the entire yard–it could have fallen out anywhere! Even if we were going to scan the yard, it wasn’t like I knew exactly when and where it fell out. We’d have to scan all 2.5 acres and there was just no way.
“Is my ring insured?”, I asked myself. Yes. Yes it was. We had it combined with our homeowners insurance and that gave me some peace of mind. I’m sure it would be a pain in the butt to file the claim, but at least we were covered. Luke was still in the yard scanning but I was sitting at the kitchen counter just staring at the empty round hole in my beautiful antique setting.
The next morning I woke up and the first thing I thought about was my ring. It felt so weird to not have it on my hand and I swallowed the reality that it was gone forever. Luke, however, woke up and started scanning the yard again. I teased myself with thoughts that the sunlight would hit the diamond and Luke would see a sparkle through the overgrown grass. We would rejoice and forever tell the story about the day I lost my diamond and Luke found it laying by the oak tree in the side yard. I went on with my day and by that afternoon, I had accepted that the diamond wasn’t coming back. I picked up the phone to call our insurance agent and begin the claim process.
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“Hi Rob! Can you pull up my wedding ring insurance? You’ll never believe but my center stone fell out while I was in the yard yesterday.”
“Sure…one second. Actually I don’t have that account anymore. I was insuring the ring through your old house but when you and Luke moved into your new house, you must have switched over to a new provider.”
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My heart sank. I had a gut feeling. One of those feelings that you despise because you know something just ain’t right. Did we remember to put the ring on our new insurance policy? Oh please please please tell me that we remembered. I called Luke frantic.
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“Honey, I just got off the phone with Rob. He said the ring was covered in our home insurance but when we sold the old house we switched providers. Did we remember to add the ring to our new policy?”
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Luke was silent. My stomach hurt, my heart sank, my eyes filled with tears. We had just sold the old house three months ago. THREE MONTHS. Luke and I had moved into our new home on Lake Whittington last October, but we still owned the old house until it finally sold at the end of the summer. How could we overlook the ring? And why would the diamond not fall out during the three years that we had been insured? Why would the diamond have to fall out during the three months that we were not insured? Why why why? That was my beautiful engagement ring that meant the world to me and I simply could not live without it. Thousands of dollars, lost somewhere in the yard or by the lake. It is just gone. Gone forever. How would I get over this?
Later on that same day, I got a text from my best friend Kathryn. She had attended a funeral earlier that morning for a young man, around our age, that passed away this past weekend. I know several people who knew him and from what I hear, he was an amazing friend and husband. She told me that the funeral was deeply emotional and we talked about how moments like that really put things in perspective. All I could think about is the wife of the man who died. The thought of losing someone so close to me, like my husband or my mother or my best friend–well honestly I can’t even imagine. And every single day, people lose their loved ones and are forced to find the strength to be at peace and move on.
Talk about putting things in perspective…
I lost a ring. Actually, not even the ring. Just the diamond that goes in the ring.
It is so small and insignificant when you compare it to losing a loved one.
I’m not going to worry about that diamond ring anymore. If someone finds it one day then I will rejoice and know it was meant to be. But in the meantime, I’m just going to be thankful for what I have and wrap my arms around the things that really matter in this short time we have here on this earth.
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