With This Ring

     I heard the ping of metal bouncing off metal as I opened the washing machine and began removing clothes.  Soon after starting my chore I spotted the shiny gold noise maker.  Confused, I pulled it from its nest of clothes and rolled it around in my palm.

It wasn't fancy, but it was mine.

     Nearly six years ago, I lost my wedding band.  Embarrassed and filled with regret, it was nearly three months before I confessed to my husband.  He would hold my hand, notice the band was missing, and ask me about it.  (Pesky, strangely observant man!)  I kept skating around the question hoping he would forget or I would find it soon.

     Finally I told him I lost my ring.  With Blondie in tow, we went to the jeweler to find a replacement.  I have kept that band safe for the last six years, which is no small matter for me.  But even though my newer band exactly matched my older one, it wasn't the same.  It wasn't the band given to me on the day we made our vows to each other.  It wasn't our ring.

     For a short while the ring from the washing machine confused me because I knew my rings were nestled safely in my dresser drawer.  When I went to my drawer I found my rings sitting where I remembered.  That was when I realized I had just found my original wedding band.

Together again.

     It was tucked in a shirt pocket many years ago, folded, and packed away in a box.  If not for me going back to school and washing old work clothes, that ring might not have been found.  That is why today as I start my first day of classes, I am adding the return of my precious ring to what I am sure will become a long list of things school gives me.

School is giving me lots of things like text books and homework.

Could you give me better things like a click on the banner below?