What I Ate Wednesday: Ring in the New Year

Okay, so I know that New Year's was last month, but I'm talking about a different "ring in the new year."

My wedding ring, to be exact.

It's actually a lot shinier and sparkly than this, but you get the idea.

I think I might have shared this with you before, but I'm going to again.

My husband and I didn't have a big elaborate wedding or even a ceremony in a church. Instead, we eloped.

Nothing says "classy" like a wedding photo framed by a metal detector.

Three days before the "Big Day" (and yes, it's even a big day when it's just a courthouse wedding), we picked out our rings. I chose the one above because it was the ring that fit in the style I liked. We didn't have time to get it sized before we married.

However, platinum is a soft metal and I've lost stones. I lost one small diamond at work one night. Before we realized it, the baguette-style diamond ended up in the trash because my supervisor thought it was a shard of glass. Thankfully, it was under warranty. On our tenth anniversary, the center stone fell off. By some miracle, we found the diamond in a chair minutes after realizing it was gone. Consequently, I only wear it on special occasions when I won't be working with my hands.

When I was teaching every day last spring, I started wearing it to school. But, it's heavy and I couldn't wear it working out. One afternoon after work, I went to the Y and didn't have a place to put it. So, I set it in a locker in my shoe. I had my husband take my shoes home for me, completely forgetting my ring was in them.

And then, it was gone.

I looked everywhere. I searched under the seats of both of our vehicles. I climbed under our bed, hoping it had fallen off the bedside shelf. I pulled all my shoes out from under my dresser, praying that my ring had been knocked behind it. I even walked the parking lot at the Y, wondering if it had dropped out of my shoes.

Despite all the searching, I couldn't find it anywhere. I kept praying every day that it would turn up. I had dreams that I had found it, only to wake up on the verge of tears because it was still missing. I finally gave up hope, but prayed anyway. I knew every passing day made the chances of finding it less and less.

We looked for one to replace it, but, of course, they no longer made the style. It would have to be custom made. It just didn't feel right to buy a new one.

Last week, ten months after I lost the ring, I returned home from the store to my husband bragging about how he had saved us money. I teased him that it must be from switching our car insurance. Then, he held out his hand, my ring in his palm. I cried.

Apparently, it was in the back of the junk drawer. There is no viable explanation as to why it ended up there, in my opinion. God had to have sent some angel to put it there for me.

It still seems too good to be true. I check to make sure it's in my jewelry box about once a day.

And now, on to what I ate.