Talk about lucky...this makes the second time this ring has managed to roll off my finger, get lost for a significant amount of time, and then turn up in the strangest of places ... (maybe I've been reading too much Tolkien after all!)
I lost it the first time last year...just noticed one day that it was no longer on my finger...spent weeks scouring my house, work, garage and basement to no avail....then one day while driving home from work...a thunderstorm popped up unexpectedly and I had to seek shelter (driving a convertible). After pulling off the highway and into a local gas station..I was checking the oil in the car when a glimmer caught my eye....there in a small open compartment in the engine of my '78 Fiat spider was my wedding ring...covered in grease which had somehow managed to not fall out during 5 months of driving almost 250 miles per day over sometimes very rough roads.
As incredible as that was....here I am, Memorial Day weekend 2011, telling the same tale yet again. This past winter, maybe in November or December I once again managed to part company with my wedding ring, without my knowledge. Once discovered, I set out on a repeat trip, scouring the house, garage, etc. all to no avail, although this time I was convinced that I had lost it at the local market while picking up some old newspapers to burn in the fireplace.
After making several trips to the market and coercing everyone who worked there to help me look, I had an idea...maybe the ring had come off my finger as I was putting paper and wood into my fireplace...so next day (had to wait for the coals to burn out), my wife and I rummaged through the ashes in the fireplace...sadly, with no results...this time I was certain it was lost for good.
Well, here we are, 5/28/2011, Saturday...after awaking from a short nap..I glanced over toward my computer and there, sitting proudly on top of my mouse, was my shiny gold ring!! I ran downstairs, to learn where my wife had found it. Well, as it happens, she had cleaned out the fireplace a week or so before my "bright" idea this past winter and today, while taking a walk in the woods behind our house...she, just like I had previously, caught a glimpse of something metallic at the base of one of the trees...there, embedded in a pile of cold, wet ashes that she had disposed of last winter from our fireplace was the ring (or maybe I should say the "one" ring).
Reunited, ring on my finger, I am celebrating...but who knows for how long... :)
