You may remember that David bought me a new diamond band to wear with my wedding rings for our 10th anniversary in June. I had hinted about that band for several years and was so delighted that he bought it for me. I smiled every time I looked at it.
About a month ago, I lost it.
I had made cinnamon rolls that day and had taken off my rings in order to knead the dough. But when the cinnamon rolls were baked and iced, I went to put my rings back on and the new band was gone.
We searched everywhere--the counter, the garbage disposal, the trash. David picked through the entire bag of disgusting garbage in search of that ring. His friends even ate almost the whole entire batch of cinnamon rolls in one sitting in case the ring had accidentally found its way into the dough. (It hadn't.)
I started questioning if the band had even been there when I started making the cinnamon rolls. What if I had lost it elsewhere? The most likely location would have been a popular running trail near my house. I had taken the kids there that morning for a walk and after coming out of the bathroom, I shook my hands to get off the water. What if it had flown off my finger then and I just didn't notice because my hands were too wet?
But how did I go the whole day without realizing it was gone? Why I really that absent minded? I was beyond devastated.
I went back to the trail multiple times to search for it. I put up signs, called both the park rangers who care for the trail and the local sheriff to see if someone had turned it in. No ring.
Two weeks later, I received a phone call from a private, unlisted number. A man named Kevin told me that he had found my ring. I was elated, but something seemed off. He asked weird questions and was deliberately evasive. I tried to set up a time and place to meet him and he wouldn't give me very straight answers. He asked if there was a reward. I told him there was (albeit a very small one). He said "OK" and said he'd call me back when he was on his way to our rendezvous point. He never called back and I had no way to contact him.
We were pretty certain it was a scam to get the reward money but I was still devastated all over again. Maybe he truly did find the ring but he decided to pawn it instead because he could get more money that way. Maybe he was lying the whole time in which case he's a dirty, rotten person who actually did me a favor by never calling back.
I started to accept that I'd never see the ring again. David promised he'd save up the money again and buy me a new one for Christmas.
Two nights ago, I decided to make some cookies so I pulled out my binder of dessert recipes; all my recipes are printed out and stored in sheet protectors. I have binders full of recipes.
The recipe book was open on the counter to the page where I'd pulled out the cookie recipe I wanted to use. David was standing by it, drinking a glass of water, about to leave for his weekly card game. I was putting the cookies in a container for him to take with him when I heard him cry, "Honey!"
I turned and looked. "What?"
"Honey, look!" And he pointed at the recipe inside my binder.
I walked over and MY RING WAS IN THE RECIPE BOOK.
It had somehow slipped into the sheet protector on the backside of my recipe for cinnamon rolls. IT WAS THERE THE WHOLE TIME.
I am so happy to be reunited with my ring and to know that it wasn't truly lost or that I'm not losing my mind like I thought. Now I get to smile again every time I see it and am even more vigilant about making sure I take care of it. (I also added it to our insurance policy so it's now insured should I lose it again.)
And to the mysterious Kevin with the private phone number, I hope you get a hundred paper cuts and fall into a vat of lemon juice.
