Lost and Found

Last Sunday evening, just over a week ago, I took my wedding ring off before bed. My finger was feeling a bit achy, and swollen, so off came the ring. I left it on my bedside table, and meant to put it back on first thing in the morning. But I forgot! All day Monday, I was without it. And didn't even realize it until the next evening, as I was headed to bed. I reached for it, and it was not there!

I immediately pulled out the night-table from the wall, looked under the bed, down in the drawers, and all around on the floor beside the table. It was gone!

Brian came and looked with me for a few minutes, then we both headed to bed. I said a very fervent prayer that night that I could find it soon. But it did not surface the next day. I asked all the kids if they had seen it, and no one seem to know anything about it… Except Camille. I asked her if she had seen mamma's ring? And she quickly ran to our bedroom and looked on the table, where I had left it. Not good, people. When the one-year-old knows where it was, it's a pretty sure bet she's the one who took off with it! And... It could be absolutely anywhere!!

I looked in all the garbage cans, under all the couches, cleaned out the toybox, and looked in all her little hidey-holes, handbags, etc. I even got out some gloves, and emptied all the trash from our big garage trashcan, and carefully (painfully) sorted through it, because that little one does sometimes throw things away. No luck. I invited the kids to join in the search, and offered a reward of $10, to whoever found it. They looked for like five minutes, then gave up. Samantha said, "but if Camille had it, that's like searching for a needle in a haystack!

All week long, I felt like I was kind of going crazy. I was afraid to vacuum, in case I accidentally sucked it up. I was imagining that I saw it everywhere – – in every drawer, closet, crawlspace, under every bed… I practically dove under the coat hook bench by our front door, thinking I saw it one afternoon. But it was just an old dried out corn kernel from our Thanksgiving decorations. Rats!

I was mentioning it in every prayer, and asking Camille about it again, at every diaper change: "Camille, do you know where mommy's ring is?" Her typical response, after the first day: "Gone."

I shed some real tears over this one! And said some very sincere prayers, I'll tell you! And then, yesterday afternoon… I found it!! I wasn't even really looking for it at the time. But it was in our piano room, against the window, underneath the curtain. I was moving around a basket of books, trying to make room for a tote of Christmas decorations to fit by it – – and there I saw it, just sparkling up at me as I had imagined all week long!

I screamed out loud, and started shaking and crying a little bit. Then I put it on, and ran upstairs to show Brian! I keep looking at it, all day long, feeling so grateful for it and all it symbolizes!

It's interesting to me how much more meaningful it feels to me right now, after having lost it for a week. Yes, it is sparkly and beautiful. And it is by far the most expensive thing I personally own and wear. But the real reason I treasure it is because it symbolizes the beautiful covenants, promises, and blessings of my life with Brian and our little family life together. Looking at this ring right now, I feel a renewed sense of gratitude for these sweet relationships in my life. And in a way, I'm grateful for this lost-and-found experience, even though I'm most especially grateful that it is found!! :-)