A Moment of Panic

This morning I was sitting in the chair where I spend most of my life these days just chatting with my husband and our daughter. As we talked I glanced down at my hands and felt a moment of surprised panic. The diamond was missing from my engagement ring. How could that be? That diamond has been sitting in that ring on my hand for over fifty years. It is always there. My husband and daughter both jumped up and looked at my hand. I was not hallucinating. The ring was still on my finger, but the diamond was not in the ring. I jumped up as fast as a one legged woman who can't walk could stand up and wheeled myself and my scooter to the couch so the chair could be closely investigated. My daughter slowly removed each pillow and cushion. She turned the chair upside down and look in all the crevasses. She found lots of dust, but no diamond. My husband took the blankets off the bed and looked closely for my diamond. No shiny diamond in our bed. I was trying hard not to cry. Suddenly there was loud, “Eureka! I found it.” Somehow it had fallen into the trash can in the bathroom. It sat there shiny and bright under the collection of trash. I felt such sweet relief. It can be reset and fixed as good as new. My hand just feels naked without my diamond.

That which was lost has been found.