A few weeks ago my mother’s wedding ring fell from her finger while she was shopping in town. Now, this is a small town…so there aren’t that many places to look. But my mom lives a half hour from town and only goes in about once a week so she makes it worth her while. On this particular day, she took a friend with her…so they hit every available shop in a half mile radius…all of Soldotna.
When she arrived home to find her wedding ring was gone, she couldn’t imagine where to begin looking. She made some calls, informed the stores where she’d shopped of her loss, described the diamond band, and mourned the loss of something she’d carried on her body for more than forty-five years.
In this world we live it’s difficult to find anything that lasts forty-five years. Especially in this age of quickie marriages, even quicker divorces…a world with a generally flippant attitude about the sanctity and solidity of marriage. To find a relationship that has gone the distance…such a rare thing.
This ring has held fast to her finger through the raising of two children. It has touched the hand of the man who gave it, as they worked side by side building homes, swathing grandchildren, traveling the world and lending a hand when needed. It was given as a symbol between two people who vowed, at eighteen years old, to remain entwined until death do they part…actually held to their promise. It has expanded to fit the arthritic knuckles of a woman who has lived comfortably, but never failed to raise a hammer or dig a ditch and until overcome with pain, worked hard to support her family.
This ring…which my father described as ‘sentimental…but not worth much money’… held little value to anyone else. Yet to it’s owner…it is simply priceless.
And someone else…a stranger…must have thought so too. Because two days after it’s disappearance, at six o’clock in the morning, Fred Meyer grocery store in Soldotna called to say that someone…someone with a value system still intact…had found the beloved jewel. And without hesitation, they had turned it in.
Once in a while, my faith in humanity is renewed, if only for a moment. But it is these brief moments that help us keep faith. It is honest people like this that keeps us optimistic that there IS still kindness in the world.
