D'Oh!

Do you ever have one of those days where you think you'd lose your head if it weren't attached to your body? I totally had one of them yesterday. I take my wedding rings off every day when I get home from work (they get in the way when I'm washing dishes, chasing after the kids, etc), and I put them on my watch strap so they won't get lost (I wear a watch with a metal band), and put the watch and rings on a tray on the microwave stand near my side (kitchen) door, so I can just grab them on and put them on as I rush out the door in the mornings.

Yesterday morning I put my watch on, and somehow didn't realize I forgot to put on the rings until I got to work, was in my office for a while, went to the bathroom, and was about to wash my hands when I noticed I didn't have my rings. I usually take my rings off when I wash my hands, so I thought maybe I had taken them off and put them by the sink, and they fell off or something. I searched all around the bathroom, and even looked in the trash, but no luck. I knew they didn't go down the drain, because the sink drains are the type with little grates on them. The supervisor in the company mail room, which is next to the bathroom, had come in to use the bathroom while I was in there, but left before I realized I didn't have my rings, so I emailed her to ask if she had seen them anywhere by the sink. She very kindly went back to the bathroom, and searched around for them, but didn't see them either. She even got one of her female employees to check also. In the meantime, I was distraught all day thinking I lost the rings somewhere.

This is actually the second wedding ring I've had since I got married. My husband and I planned to get married shortly after my second colon surgery in 2002, but due to all the time I missed from work, we couldn't afford to buy rings. My coworkers at my job at the time very generously all chipped in to buy us a set of gold wedding bands as a surprise. We got married, and I had the band for probably about 6 months, when my husband and I went to a restaurant, I took the ring off in the bathroom, washed my hands, and left, forgetting it was in there. When I got home and realized it was gone, I called the restaurant, but no one had seen the ring. I was wedding-ringless until my husband and I bought a new set with our income tax refund.

The morning my dad passed away, in January of 2005, while he was hospitalized after a series of strokes, I was getting ready to meet my mom and brothers and sisters up at the hospital. I was standing next to the kitchen sink, trying to put my rings on, and my hands were shaking so badly that I dropped one of the bands in the sink. I looked around in the sink, and didn't see the ring anywhere. When we got home from the hospital, my husband took the drain pipe off, and still didn't see the ring. Later that day after washing dishes he ran the garbage disposal, heard something clanking, turned it off, and pulled out my terribly mangled wedding band. I was heartbroken. All of the diamonds were intact, but the band looked damaged beyond repair.

I took the ring to a jewelry store, for a repair estimate, and they said if they could fix it (a big "if") it would cost about $200, which I couldn't afford, and being as the set only cost $400, seemed overpriced. On the plus side though, the salesman was surprised that the set only cost $400, which made me happy because it turned out the set was a good bargain. I finally took the ring to a small jewelry store downtown near my job, and they fixed it for only $75, which included cleaning and polishing for the set. I was so overjoyed when I was saw my ring, looking as good as when I bought it, that I was nearly in tears.

Back to yesterday though, after being distraught all day thinking my rings were lost for good, I got home, looked by the microwave stand, and there were my rings right on the tray where I had left them! D'oh! I think I've had enough wedding ring mishaps to last me a lonnnng time, LOL!