More precious than diamonds ...
A14-karat gold, open-petal, rose ring with a ¼-carat, round diamond in its center—my most treasured ring.
Diamonds are a girl''s best friend!
Not because Marilyn Monroe said so on account of men grow cold as girls grow old, and we all lose our charms in the end.
But, because this ring symbolized one of life’s milestones for me.
In 1973, I graduated from Rhode Island College with a Bachelor of Science degree and landed a fifth-grade teaching position in the town of Lincoln. Quite an accomplishment due to the inundation of surplus applicants vying for one opening!
To celebrate my first-year base salary of approximately $7,892, I went to one of the local, renowned jewelers and opted for a custom-designed ring incorporating my favorite flower and my birthstone. Whether this ring underwent a re-sizing, prong adjustment, or re-shanking, it withstood the test of time for 42 years! Until two weeks ago when I discovered it missing from my collection.
More than a material acquisition or frivolous bauble, I lament the loss of my ring for its significance. Yet, in the grand scheme of “Lost and NOT Found,” it doesn’t measure up to losing a loved one, losing a limb, losing a mind, losing a battle against illness, losing a home, or losing one’s dignity.
Perchance, my finger lost its grip on a ring which landed on an earthen floor whose depths bequeath gold from ore and diamonds in the rough for mankind to hone into talismans. I can think of no finer closing than this decent burial for a cherished keepsake.
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hope your ring does turn up again,
enjoyed the read,
and have a chuckle when you list your beginning teaching salary.... i was 19, began teaching on a provisional credential... with migrant children, 43 or so to the classroom, my first contract was a hair more than half of yours!
did you, as i, feel we were earning more money than we ever thought we might
ah, memories
Never Stop Writing !
m
After losing nearly everything I had a few times, I've adopted the practice of giving away anything having significant meaning or value before I lose it.
Scott
The diamond trade is a well advertised Dutch monopoly by DeBeers limiting the supply and creating demand requiring women to collect diamonds, hopefully, like Elizabeth Taylor. Recently the diamond trade has resulted in a lot of atrocity in countries like Sierra Leone.
Instead, you wished your keepsake well in its burial rather than seek a larger, more costly, replacement. For that, I applaud you. In a 1000 years or so, when someone finds it, they will wonder who made it and who owned it or lost it. Come to think of it, they won't. All of that information will be easily found in the digital/analog interstellar ethernet by a simple search… Wow!
Ron