The Worlds Safest Deposit Box

Before I tell my story:

My blogging (sort of) schedule is all out of whack. I usually try to post something Sunday evening or Monday but I have to work so I am posting today.  But luckily my friend Nicole graciously invited me to guest post for her Motivational Monday, Thank You Again Nicole, I am very flattered!  so if you are looking for me then, you will find me here Help! Mama Remote...  and while you're there take a look around, I Love Her Blog!

And also, while I was having my award ceremony this week I was given yet another. My trophy case is overflowing, I feel so honored! I would  like to Thank AmandaK and present  Blogger Towne. Check out what is going on there. This a new blog and it's a great idea for helping bloggers learn the ropes, (instead of hanging from them like I do) And a great place to connect and learn more about blogging!

My Safe Deposit Box

   I love to wear rings. Starting in my teens, I usually wore several at once. I am also incurably sentimental. Now my husband TheSurfer doesn't really get it. To him there are way better things to spend money on than jewelry and he's right.  However he loves me and so has been known to give me jewelry from time to time for special occasions. Nothing extravagant, we aren't wealthy, but he added to my collection of  rings to mark some of our special times. My wedding band and engagement ring of course, a ten year anniversary band, and a little antique emerald that I had coveted for six months before my husband gave it as another anniversary gift. On my right index finger I wore another ring. It was  the least extravagant but in some ways the most irreplaceable. It was a silver band carved in the shape of a chain. I had seen it on my grandmothers hand and been fascinated by it my whole life, until she passed away when I was thirteen. When I was asked if there was anything I wanted, this is what I requested. It was already very old and after the added years of my use the chain pattern was worn down in some areas and I had been wearing it so long my finger was worn down as well in a deep groove around it. It was my talisman. I would use my thumb to spin it on my finger and when it was off I felt something akin to a ghost limb that drove me crazy so I never left it, except in the water. So even if the monetary value was not huge, the sentiment behind all of the rings I wore was.
   One night about 11 years ago, I was getting ready to get in the shower. I had carried some towels in and set them on the toilet seat lid to be within easy reach. As I started to get in the shower I realized I was still wearing my rings.
So I leaned out and took them off and set them on the counter, close to the edge away from the sink.
As I set them down I thought about taking them back to my dresser but was already wet.
    A little while later I was almost ready to get out when I heard the door open. We  know as moms that being in the bathroom by yourself is usually a fantasy. I turned the water off and heard a little voice. Littlest, somewhere around the age of 3. She had to use the bathroom. I tell her alright and wait. I hear the lid go up. A few moments later I hear the little voice. "Here, I will get you your towel." I have a flash vision of the towels being lifted and set on the counter and then picked up again. I simultaneously called out, No sweetheart that's Ok, with the sound of the toilet flushing and.....plink, plink, plink....bouncing on the toilet seat. So I'm standing there naked and wet and completely spinning out. And I stood there a couple more minutes till I could catch my breath and calmly proceed. I poked my head out to find a frozen child with eyes like saucers and asked, "was that my rings?" The small voice answered in Bill Cosby performance perfection by answering, "I don't know".
   I searched every inch of the floor and trash can hoping beyond hope to find at least one. Nope.
We took the toilet apart, Nope. I'm doing all this while trying to remain calm because this sweet little creature who wanted to hand her Mommy a towel certainly wasn't responsible. Mommy was for not being more careful. So I had to hide in the other bathroom and cry my eyes out. Sometimes I wonder if it was karma for the vanity of wearing all my finery at once. Who knows.
   The only consolation was.....we have a septic tank. We had them come out twice and empty it, telling the company what happened and hoping for the best. Nope. So unless they actually did find something and went to collect from the pawn shop instead of from an offered award, my rings are safe and sound, somewhere deep in my backyard or the bowels of my house. Of the two, I hope that's the case. At least I know they are nearby. My husband and I replaced our wedding bands but that is it. I like inexpensive silver rings with interesting shapes and that's all I wear now but most of the time I don't bother.

The only thing is that we weren't planning on staying here forever. Our house and yard take a lot of maintenance and the stairs will be a problem when we get old. But I can't bear the thought of leaving my rings behind. I keep thinking I will be in my sixties and out digging up the back yard because my house has been sold. But I try not to mention it much. Poor Littlest feels so guilty to this day, even though she certainly didn't mean it and I was the one who was careless. I find it hard not to joke now that they are older and tell the girls their inheritance is in the backyard but the one time I did her poor face was so sad, I had to give her a hug and remind her that it wasn't her fault. And that she is the most valuable thing to me, not the rings.

So you tell me. Have you ever lost something that broke your heart? Have your kids ever accidentally lost or broken something that you truly loved, but love them more, so had to suck it up? I have another example. My mom called my older siblings in the house one day when they were kids to find my sister wearing her destroyed wedding dress. It had been paraded through the yard and mud all afternoon and had to be thrown out, but my Mom kept my sister.

I have to go now. There is a battle raging upstairs that goes something like this:
M: You used all the Tampons!
L:  Quit yelling about tampons!
M: TAMPONS! (at twice the decibel).
So I have a feeling I will be making a trip to the store.



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