Day 07 - A picture of your most treasured item
This is my Grandma Joan's engagement ring. My Grandma passed away in 2003 and I hadn’t really gotten the chance to really know her and I regret that I didn’t. In my junior year of high school I was going through my mom’s jewelry box and I came across this ring. I fell in love with it, it fit my finger perfectly. My mom told me that my Grandma gave it to my mom sometime after my parents were married, and that it had been her engagement ring that she got from my Grandpa when she was 18. Naturally I wanted to keep it, but my mom said no, because it was important and she didn’t want to lose it. So I asked my dad instead! He said since it was his moms that it was ok that I wear it, it was better than no one wearing it. So it has been on my finger until a field trip to Raging Waters. I was a summer camp counselor for Newark in 2007, that week’s field trip was Raging Waters. I hate water parks to begin with. So my mistake was not taking off my ring and leaving it safely at home, and I didn’t dare leave it in my bag unattended while I was with the kids. So one stupid slide later, I feel my ring slip off as I land in the pool. I freak out and tell the pool guy I REFUSE to get out until I have my ring. He shuts off the slide and calls a diver over to look for it, and nothing. I was told that it probably went into the filter and that they would look for it at the end of the day. I also needed to fill out a lost and found form at Guest Services. So I did. I didn’t care that I was wasting the kids precious slide time, they would get over it. So I told my boss in tears that I lost my favorite ring and I was not going to be happy the rest of the day. (Poor Garin probably thinks I am a total brat, but I am sorry, it is my ring!) It was so difficult leaving that park without my most prized possession. But there was nothing else I could do. So I call the water park at the end of the day to remind them what I lost, what slide, and what time and that I will be calling first thing in the morning to see if it was found. The next morning I call and thank the lords, THEY FOUND IT. It was at the Guest Services booth waiting for me to pick it up. So my mom drives me down the next day, I giddily go to guest services, and the girl there has no idea what I am talking about. “What gold ring? No I don’t have it sorry.” I make her call a manager. He has no idea. I make him look up who called me yesterday, and he isn’t working, and there is nothing in the lost and found for me. So I call the one person who fixes everything. My mother. She is requesting the manager call the person who called me and asks where he put it. I am crying again at this point. I lost it once, then its ‘found’ then lost again. FINALLY after searching, they find an envelope with my name on it, and my gorgeous ring is inside. I am so happy.
About a week later, and huge crack settles into my ring. And I know this is my Grandma punishing me again for losing her ring. I since had to get the crack fixed twice since it resurfaced, but now it looks as good as new and I only take it off for washing my hands, showering, and stupid water parks. I will not risk losing it again.
