My Rings

We finally left Pocatello yesterday mid afternoon. Minutes later I realized my hands were bare, no rings!

I had taken them off when I put on hand cream and failed to put them back on in my eagerness to get on the road.

The nephew’s wife l.o.v.e.s diamonds. So, I called and told her I had left a couple diamond rings, knowing how much she values them. Ha! They called a bit later to say they had found them. I am grateful because I truly enjoy wearing them.

Here’s the story behind all the meaningful rings I have owned.
The first one was a small oval turqouise set in silver (smaller than the pic I found). My parents brought it back from a trip out West. Back in Argentina, I was doing some weeding or garden work, and the ring was gone, lost forever.

The most significant was my wedding ring, a small gold band with seven small diamonds. After 10 years of enjoyment, I lost it too, but through very different circumstances. I was robbed at gun point!

We were in Venezuela on the Orinoco River, living and ministering on the ship Doulos. It was an unusual berth in that we had to cross the river on a barge to go anywhere. On a sunny Mother’s Day, we went for a stroll with another couple and our toddler boys*. We had crossed the river and were walking on the other shore, quiet and deserted. We entered a clump of trees and promptly were attacked by five young men carrying weapons. They took our rings, glasses, watches, any jewelry. I was grateful we still had one another, even if the symbols of our wedded love were gone.

After several months of feeling somewhat ‘naked,’ my ring was replaced by a white gold double band with one diamond, just the perfect size for me.

Some 15 years ago, I had a wishful-thinking thought and even turned it into a prayer, “I’d like to have a ring for my right hand.” The next week, no kidding, a package arrived from Mike’s Aunt Gerry, an old book with an heirloom ring inside--antique gold with a nice size diamond--Mike’s great grandmother’s engagement ring!

That’s the story of my rings: two lost forever, two lost and found!

*That toddler will be 31 tomorrow!

Update about our car issues:

Finally on Tuesday, and after replacing the fuel pump and the computer and ruling out other problems, they determined the culprit was a fuel pressure speed resistor and ordered a replacement out of Denver.

They had us on the road the next afternoon. This was a problem the dealer had never encountered in his 25 years in the automotive repair business. Today he even gave us a call to make sure everything was running fine. All is well, and we get better mileage now!

Needless to say, we are very eager to get home--tomorrow!