"One Ring To Rule Them All"

So this post has nothing to with the poem by JRR Tolkien (sorry Lord of the Rings fans)--but it has everything to do with a ring that today ruled all of my attention. In keeping with my theme of things I am grateful for, today I am extremely grateful for my wedding ring. I took it off and set it on the counter (which was actually fairly clutter free compared to the usual chaos that it is) to wash dishes this morning, and after finishing the dishes, it was nowhere to be found.

I searched everywhere it could possibly have gone, and even was ready to use some heavy interrogation techniques with my cute son, who repeatedly assured me that he did not pick it up, hide it, swallow it, or in any other way do something to remove it from it's original place on the counter. His innocent little face and voice promising me that he didn't do anything with it had me believing that at least he didn't remember what he had done with it, and I forgave him and tried to lovingly jog his memory, but to no avail.

I continued to search and really tore the kitchen apart--and even moved on to other rooms in the house. In our living room vent I found a bunch of old scraps of wood (from our hardwood floor installation three years ago???) and a small chisel, but no ring. I removed the pipes from under the sink which was stinky (reminded me of the grease-trap days at Meier's Prime) but empty of wedding rings. I went through our recycling garbage can (clean stuff, no grime) and the regular garbage (not so clean, lots of ketchup and ranch from playgroup kiddoes lunch) so many times I can't even count them. I even got through several piles that have been sitting on the kitchen counter for years at least--and found my passport which had been lost since I returned home from Paris (big relief that it hadn't been stolen, right?), but still no sign of the ring. Of course I was praying continually that I could find my ring, but after several hours, I was ready to concede that I was never going to see it again.

Is it silly to worry so much about an object? Not if it's a wedding ring. We have insurance that would replace it, but another ring wouldn't be the same. I felt sick inside all day long. Finally, as a last ditch attempt, I decided (was prompted) to pull out the stove. There it was--halfway underneath the dang thing! I think I must have knocked it off the counter and kicked it under there. What a relief! I didn't even care that it was in the middle of a whole bunch of yucky stuff, it was beautiful to me. After calling Ryan to tell him the great news, I called several other friends that I had lamented to throughout the day.

I am very, very grateful that prayers are answered and that my ring is safely back on my finger. I have decided it's high time to use the beautiful ring holder my dad gave to me--it now has a prominent place right above the sink so that whenever I need to wash the dishes, it can sit in a safe place where I can watch it!