My mother has been grieving for weeks over a ring that my dad gave her on April 1 four years ago that she lost recently. She left me the saddest voice mail earlier today, first recapping all the local news (my sister has pneumonia, my dad’s heart doctor appointment here in town is for the 9th, etc.) and then wrapping up the message by saying how she was kinda down today because of the missing ring. I talked to her and she seemed okay, but I could tell it was really bothering her.
Tonight as I was leaving work, my phone danced its little pocket jig and I saw it was my mother calling again. It went to voicemail (stupid slow fingers) so I called her back. She then told me all about a poem she’d written for my dad the night before.
Here’s where the story gets achingly cute. You’ve been warned.
See, my dad always always always pranks my mom on April Fool’s Day. First thing in the morning, of course. So, anticipating that and still feeling awful about her lost ring, my mom left a note out for my dad last night. (She read it to me over the phone but I requested that she e-mail it to me too, for posterity.)
It goes:
Roses are red,
Violets are blue.
Please don’t April Fool me,
For I am feeling blue.You see, it was on this very day
Back in Two Thousand Five,
That you gave me a ring and my heart did sing!
And my hopes for years of getting that special ring that very day
came alive.O, those seven sweet diamonds that sparkled for miles
Could only make brighter my own proud smiles.So you see, in a way,
This for me is a “mourning” day.
But I’ll always keep looking in hopes that it might
Reappear to me somehow–and oh! what a sight!So I’ll cherish the memories of how it did shine–
Until that day may come when I can say, “you’re back! You’re
MINE!”
My dad read the note this morning and got a little teary-eyed when my mom told him she hoped he wouldn’t be mad that she wasn’t in the mood for pranks. He said of course he wasn’t mad. The day went on as usual until just a few hours ago. Mom had been dinking around in the walk-in closet, then came back a little while later to get some socks or something. She said she saw a black box on the floor that she swears wasn’t there before. Lo and behold, it contained not only her ring, but some earrings and a pendant she had apparently also misplaced.
When I talked to her, as she was reading that poem to me, her voice sounded a dozen times lighter than it had earlier today.
Although she’s not exactly sure what she did to this photograph, my mother is extremely excited to have her ring back.
That’s the sweetest thing every! I’m so glad that your Mother found her ring.
That’s pretty awesome. It reminds me of the story of when my mother lost the diamond out of her engagement ring. My dad was away for a few months working and this made it even more depressing for her. She looked everywhere and couldn’t find it… then one day she opened a filing cabinet at work (they had wall after wall of them) and there was her little diamond, perched between two files.
After my dad got sick, he lost a lot of weight, and one day when he was working in the garden his wedding band dropped off without his knowledge. This was probably the 3rd or 4th band he had, he was always having working man accidents that required the cutting off of a band. Anyway, my mom still hopes that she will come across it someday, working in the garden.
@Megan
Thanks, me too!
@Amanda
Ay-d, both of those stories are so sweet I just about can’t stand it. I hope she finds that ring in the garden, too.