This Golden Ring

Over a year ago, I lost my  wedding ring. It was about the same time that we brought a new puppy home. I had the strange suspicion that Sofie had carried off the ring in her mouth and took it in the back yard. I had put the ring down on an end table to put some hand lotion on. The next thing I knew, it was gone. The back door  was wide open with the kids playing with the new puppy.

Although it is insured, I haven’t gotten around to replacing it. I guess in my mind, I had hopes that it would eventually be found. Besides, there were far too many important things to spend our money on; like sending our three kids to college.

Could you ever really replace something that was so special?

I just wanted the same ring that had been a part of my life and marriage for the last eighteen years.

Despite being in graduate school at the time, my husband chose a big marquise solitaire with lots of baguette diamonds along the sides of it. When he got down on one knee to propose, I couldn’t  believe that I was going to be able to wear something so beautiful. He knew exactly what I wanted and it was a total surprise that he would pop the question so soon.

On our fifth anniversary he added another band filled with diamonds that we would solder to the existing wedding band. It made it even bigger and flashier.

It was exactly what I wanted on my hand.

I finally got used to not having it on my finger. I wore different rings that I had bought myself before I got married as well as some costume rings.

I guess I was still holding out in hopes that it might just magically appear out of nowhere.

A couple of days after my Mom passed away, as we were going through her things to pick out the dress that she was to be buried in, I remembered her grandmother’s ring. She had worn it on her right hand.  It was a simple gold band that had originally belonged to my great-grandmother, Annie Ruvalt Talty upon her marriage to my great-grandfather, John Talty in 1891. It had their initials engraved on the inside as well as the year they were married.

I remember Mom telling me the story about how she had gotten the ring from her mother, Callie. She would then tell more stories about life on their cotton farm. My grandmother passed away when I was only three years old so my mother’s stories would bring her to life for me.  Grandmother Callie was a hard working woman, who loved her church,farm,family and her husband more than anything else in the world.

As I looked around the house for the ring, I asked all of my sisters if they would mind if I could have it. I still hadn’t found my wedding ring and I thought it would mean so much to have Mom’s ring to replace it. They all agreed that is should be mine.

I looked everywhere and couldn’t find it.

The more I searched around the house, the more certain that I knew that this plain gold band was meant for me.

Finally, on Sunday, the day of the visitation services, I found it in a box on top of a bookshelf.

I tried it on and it fit perfectly.

I sobbed.

I never thought that a gold band would hold such meaning.

My old wedding ring had so many more diamonds, carats and adornments; those no longer mattered.

What I then realized as I looked down at my hand was that I was seeing my mother’s hands.

Every time I would visit my mother’s sister, Bridget, she would mention to me my hands looked just like Mom’s.

What a blessing it is to see the same hands that I was able to hold for so many years. These same gentle hands that would raise nine children and give even more comfort to others while working as a nurse.

It has only been two weeks since I first put the ring on my finger, but it feels more like  an eternity; as if  it should have been there  my entire life.

In seeing her hands daily, my heart has already started to heal.I know her love will always be with me and if I ever have any doubt, I can simply glance down for reassurance.

Last night, my husband asked me something that I wasn’t expecting to hear nor even thought about doing.

He said, “Why don’t we have our wedding vows renewed with your Mom’s ring. We can ask Father Doug to perform the ceremony along the banks of the Riverwalk.”

I didn’t think I could love my husband any more than at that very moment.

He has left me alone in my grief but has also known exactly when I needed him.

He handled everything so I could go and be with my siblings and then brought the kids to attend the services.

And then he realized that this ring would bring it all together for us as a family.

His timing couldn’t have been more perfect; I couldn’t ask for a more thoughtful and loving man.

This ring means so much to me: motherhood, marriage,love,faith,family and hope.

How wonderful that I get to share my mother and my husband all with one simple gold band; the two very people that have always understood what I needed without my even knowing it.

Except now, one of them is letting me know from heaven and the other one asked me to marry him all over again.

And for this, I am eternally grateful.