Dear Jessica Brennan,
As you know Grandpa was rushed to hospital last week and had emergency surgery. When we got there the medical team said that they had taped his wedding band to his finger with surgical tape to keep it safe, and he was then quickly whisked away on a gurney. Then the three hours of nail-biting and horrible waiting began well into the night.
Fortunately Grandpa is recovering well for his 82 years, but alas somewhere between pre-op when we saw him, and ICU post-surgery the next day, Grandpa’s wedding band was taken off his finger and has disappeared. Multiple calls to the ICU, the lost and found and the floor he was finally allocated to, resulted in the now very real fear that he will never see his wedding band again.
What is wrong with this world?…comes to mind.
Someone asked me, “What is the ring worth”? Like the dollar value could determine the importance of finding it, or a ring was actually what we were talking about. I’m glad they asked though. Let me tell you.
The wedding ring in question was purchased by my parents 62 years ago (yes that’s sixty-two years of marriage) and has been on Grandpa’s finger ever since my mother put it on him one August day and said “for better worse, richer poorer, sickness health”. The worth here will be calculated by what honoured vows that wedding band has witnessed:
– One 19 year old kid watching his bride walk down the aisle (better)
– One tiny house less than 1000 square feet to start a family (better/poorer)
– A child born (better/poorer)
– Another child born (better/poorer)
– That child lost (worse)
– Another child born (better/poorer)
– A child’s tuberculosis scare (sickness/worse)
– A move to a larger house (better/richer)
– A move to a small apartment in order to build a business (better/poorer)
– A move to a larger house (better/richer)
– A child’s rheumatic fever scare (sickness/worse)
– A son (better/poorer)
– Laughter, tears, joy, fear (better/worse)
– 25 years with the same bride (better)
– Christmas mornings (better)
– Several games of lawn darts, croquet and badminton (better)
– Thousands of fish caught and thrown back (better – unless you’re a fish)
– Camping trips, road trips, ice storms, ukuleles (better)
– A few hundred thousand hours in a workshop (better)
– A few trips to the hospital (sickness)
– Birthdays (better)
– Trips to the specialist (sickness)
– Multiple Sclerosis diagnosis (worse/sickness)
– Grandchildren (better)
– Two grandchildren lost (worse)
– Taking care of bride with cancer (sickness/worse)
– 40 years with the same bride (better)
– Friends, music (better)
– 50 years with the same bride (better)
– Great grandchildren (better)
– 60 years with the same bride (better)
– Not one complaint in 50 years of Multiple Sclerosis. Not one. (sickness/better)
– Hundreds of trips to the hospital (sickness)
– Long term care (better/worse/sickness/health)
– Emergency surgery last weekend (worse/sickness)
– So far, thirty two million six hundred and forty thousand four hundred and eighty minutes loving the same woman – and many of those minutes loving his kids and grandkids and great grand kids too (better)
– Wedding band stolen (worse)
Who knows what the wedding band is witnessing now. (worse)
So pardon me if the ICU (in their words) is tired of hearing about the wedding band. We know the name of the nurse who had it and now has mysteriously disappeared. We know that the ICU is a protected area. We know that wherever it is it should be returned or the expectation of furious karma should be feared by the one who has it. And sadly, we know that it may be gone forever.
It’s just a ring – an old ring. Let’s ask the Dear Jessica Brennan readers, “what do you think it is worth?”
Love Mum
xo
