I used to have a knack for finding lost belongings; wallets, random credit cards, drivers licenses, keys, flash drives, makeup, the occasional pet… once I even found a few hard-won teaching certificates blowing across a busy street.
This became a point of pride. “Here I am,” I’d think as I hunted for rightful owners, “Being noble and benevolent just for kicks.”
Thus, when I lost MY wallet, I fully expected some honest soul to return it to me. Yes, it’s difficult/ impossible to return anything unmarked, but my wallet was chock full of ID. Furthermore, I’m the only Rebekah [surname] on the planet. How could anyone fail to find me? By not trying, that’s how. Goodbye, wallet.
CHANGE OF SUBJECT:
When Mr. Jaunty and I started dating, I wore a moonstone ring whenever we saw each other.. It was sterling silver with a large moonstone. Because the ring was big, I took it off when we held hands. Happy new couples LIVE for hand-holding; I lost the ring.
Hey, have you ever seen a moonstone? They look like this:
Aren’t they lovely? They’re especially beautiful when they catch the light. You can imagine how I felt about losing mine.
Over the next three years, I had two more rings. Neither felt quite like “me.” I sold one, gave the other to a good friend, and resigned myself to naked fingers.
BACK TO THE POINT:
In July of 2010, Mr. Jaunty dog-sat for our friends Stephanie and Sean. As I wandered through their living room one day, looking at paintings and bookshelves, something shiny on an end table caught my eye.
A moonstone ring.
That’s right; my moonstone ring.
Or was it? Mine came from Spirit Winds, a popular gift shop in Las Cruces— couldn’t Stephanie have bought one, too? I never saw her wear it… but most Americans have accessories they seldom wear. But why would it live on an end table, instead of with her other jewelry? Stephanie and I spent our days in the music building; did I take off the ring to practice piano? Could she have found my ring there?
Since I didn’t have Stephanie’s number or email address, I asked Mr. Jaunty to contact her about the ring. He forgot. I asked again. He forgot again. Weeks passed, we moved across the country, and when I *cough* politely jogged his memory, Mr. Jaunty finally contacted Stephanie. She reported that my poor ring was in the music building’s lost and found for ages, so she brought it home.
She could have kept it, of course; every schoolchild knows that finders = keepers. But being the noble, benevolent type, Stephanie shipped me my long-lost ring…
…which is now reunited with me and its distant cousin, a rainbow moonstone pendant. I own a ring again! Thank you, Stephanie!
Have you ever found something you thought was lost forever?
My student ID was MIA for about 2 years when my mom pulled it out of the lint thing in the dryer. It somehow got wedged way down in there. That was a happy day when we were reunited. And it surprisingly worked perfectly!
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I can’t think of anything that’s been MIA for an especially long time, but that ring and necklace are gorgeous! I can see why you’d be bummed about losing the ring.
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Also, I hope someone returns your wallet!
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I lost Aunt Madeline’s little ring with the 3 garnets once. On a weekend in A2.
Fast forward a couple of years….we’re married with child and he is cleaning the garage for Grandpa. Sweeping up the chips where the woodpile used to be he finds my missing ring. We figured out I lost it the night we went bowling with Scott and Ginny…I took it off to hold the bowling ball better and Mike put it in his pocket for safekeeping. Later that night he went to the garage to get wood for the fire and leaned over the woodpile…..
For some reason I liked it better after it had been gone so long.
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Lori- Whoa, it was in the LINT TRAP? That’s amazing! Ha!
Millie – Aren’t moonstones fabulous? Shiny, but not glitzy. Oh, I lost that wallet several years ago. It’s a goner. My storytelling needs some work, eh?
Stitchywitchy – You lost The Garnet Ring? We were all in love with it as girls, it’s strange to think we’d never have seen it… Barb has a story about losing and finding a priceless ring, remind me to tell you sometime.
“You don’t know what you got ’til it’s gone.” =)
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I was happy to return it. I have had a great morning looking at your page.Hope you’re doing well. :)
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