The Precious Things In Life.

The precious things in life, we probably take for granted. Most of us would say that our families are the most precious thing in our lives followed by friends and pets, health, having enough money to live a reasonably good life. We might add, in a broader sense, clean air to breathe, water to drink, enough to eat, a pleasant environment and work that we enjoy. Oh, and not forgetting freedom of speech, especially in our blogging! Take any of these precious things from our lives and there would be a terrible gap that would cause us grief.

The precious things that I am thinking about today are probably not the most important things in life at all, but are really important to us personally.

My mother's engagement ring is very important to me. It was given to me while she was lying in hospital some months before she died. She was frightened of losing it, she said. She'd always looked after it really well, all the years of her marriage, (getting on for fifty!)  Every time she was about to dip her hands in water, off would come the ring. She never lost it because it was one of her most treasured possessions. So it was a great honour to me that day in hospital, when she asked me to wear it. I felt sad that it had come to this but I slipped it on to my right hand finger, the opposite hand and finger to my own engagement ring. It looked lovely, three diamonds of equal size in a row, side by side. I was scared to leave it off my hand, in case I lost it and for the same reason, I did not take it off when washing up. I considered it to be safer on my finger than in a jewellery box or upstairs drawer, in case we had burglars.

When my mother died, the ring became even more precious to me, so you can imagine how I felt when I glanced down at my hand one day and saw only two stones, one had gone! 

My first reaction was one of absolute horror. 

"Oh Mum," I cried out loud, "I am so sorry!" Now how was I going to find a tiny stone like that? I was upstairs at the time and vowed I would never vacuum again until it was found.

In my mind's eye, I retraced my steps. Where had I been last? I had been sitting in an armchair with a cup of tea downstairs. Surely that was too easy & as I ran down stairs, I prayed to God that I would find it.

I opened the dining room door and a tiny speck of light sparkled on the cushion of the chair, so small that it hardly showed up at all, except for the light shining through it. The stone was minute, out of its clasp.

"Thank you God," I gratefully said out loud as I ran for the cellotape and an envelope! I put the ring inside and stuck the tiny stone into the envelope with the cellotape & sealed it down.

Well I know that the stone was not gone for long, but the chances of finding such a tiny speck of a thing like that, was not at all likely and I had no idea whether it was going to be found again or not.

At my first opportunity, I went to a jewellers and explained the situation to them. It was sent away for repair and cost quite a bit of money, but it was well spent. I had the ring back.

If I'd been outside, I'm sure it would have been lost forever.

However, I can say in all sincerity, that my own mini miracle happened that day and I'm still wearing my mother's most precious possession and mine too!

This post is linked to David at authorblog on his Weekend Wanderings. He asked, What Was The Most Important Thing That I Lost.