finding treasures

The kids and grands came home today for soup and bread. Ron was home for the weekend so it was a good excuse to be together.

We enjoyed food and conversation around the table.

Since the weather is so nice, the grands ate quickly and got outside as soon as possible. There was time for soccer, and for playing on the swing set. They also came in to ask for whisk brooms, dust pans and my garden trowel. 

They love to search through the sand on the driveway, exploring for treasures.

Most days their searches yield small stones with unusual colors or surfaces. The kids like to pretend they are valuable jewels or fossils. So when the hollered they had found gold...a gold ring, I was expecting to see a circular, light yellowish brown rock in their hands.

I was not expecting to see this:

This is my ring, 

with the diamond missing. 

The ring has been gone for more than five years, if our guess is right. 

I lost it in summer during a long dry spell.

I'd been gardening for a couple of hours. 

I don't like sunscreen, so in the garden I wear a wide brim hat, long pants, a tank top, and a light colored long sleeve shirt to protect my skin from the sun. I had been using a field hoe to work up some of the raised beds. My ring against the hoe had raised a blister on my ring finger in the process, so I took the ring off and put it in my long sleeved shirt pocket.

I kept working quite a while longer, and as soon as I was ready to quit, I took off the long sleeve shirt to allow the breeze to cool me down a bit before going into the house. 

I threw the shirt over my shoulder. 

Then I began putting my tools away. I also laid out garden hoses to water the plants that needed it most.

I must have gotten the mail before going in. That is the only thing I can think of that explains where the kids found the ring.

When I discovered it gone that day, I looked first in the pocket of the shirt, and then in the pockets of my pants. Then I tried to remember where I had walked with that shirt over my shoulder. 

The most likely path from the garden to the house was through our lawn. Because of the lack of rain, our yard was crossed with many wide and deep cracks. 

There were cracks I could slide my hand into. 

We looked for a while, but really had no hope of finding it.

I'm not terribly sentimental about the ring. I'm not at all superstitious about it. I never worried that losing the ring said something about our commitment to each other. I did not see it as a bad omen. 

Still, even recently, when I walked to the garden where I thought I might have walked that day, I wondered about the ring. How far into the earth did it go? Could it still be sparkling somewhere on the surface where I would someday find it?

I never remembered walking to the mailbox that day. 

I never thought of looking on the driveway.

I walk up and down that driveway at least once every day. I walk right where the kids found my ring. No diamond, but they looked a while longer, hoping they might discover it.

It doesn't fit anymore. My knuckles have grown, just like my feet.

I'll take it to a jeweler soon, to see what my options are. Maybe, it can be a single band, possibly with a sapphire?