I guessed that something was wrong as soon as I saw the look of shocked disbelief on my husband Davidâs face.
âBabe, whatâs wrong?â
With tears in his eyes David whispered âI lost my wedding ring!â
It was our last night in Cape Cod. After dinner we went for a walk on the beach. There was a lot of seaweed in the ocean from a storm a few days before. We walked along the shore, teasing each other with clumps of seaweed; thatâs when the ring must have slipped off his finger. But exactly where we had no idea. We crawled around searching but it was dark and we couldnât see anything. David was devastated.
âHon, I know your wedding ring means the world to you but we can always replace it.â
âI know, Jess, but it just wonât be the same.â
Dejected, we returned to our room and went to bed. After hours of trying to get to sleep, I grabbed my laptop and Googled âWill a ring wash ashore after falling in the ocean?â
Almost immediately there was a *ding* on my laptop ⊠a response from âTheRingFinders.comâ. It read: âWe can help find any lost metallic object on the beach or in the water. Enter your zip code and weâll get back to you ASAP .â
I entered the zip code for Cape Cod and 10 minutes later I heard from Rick at âRingFindersâ. After explaining our situation, Rick said heâd be at our B&B at 7:00 AM to start his search. Thank God for the Internet!
True to his word, Rick was already on the beach at 7:00. We ate breakfast on the veranda, never taking our eyes off Rick as he searched everywhere with no luck. It was almost checkout time when he trudged up to the B&B.
âNo luck, folks. Youâre gonna get socked in traffic if you donât leave now. Iâm sorry to disappoint you but Iâm not giving up. Iâll keep in touch with you either way.â
Disheartened, we checked out and loaded up the car. Taking one last look at Rick, we waved goodbye when we realized he wasnât waving goodbye ⊠he was waving in excitement. He ran up the beach with his arm in the air, hand clenched in a fist.
âI found it, folks! I found your ringâ he shouted.
We ran to meet him and he grinned as he placed a wet, sandy ring in Davidâs hand.
Thering was under 11 inches of water and seaweed!
Overjoyed, David hugged Rick and we asked how much we owed him.
âThis is a free service we provide but we gladly accept donationsâ Rick explained. âIts very rewarding to see the joy on peopleâs faces when theyâre reunited with their precious lost items.â
I donât remember how much we gave Rick ⊠thatâs not important. What I do remember is David glancing at his ring all the way home and smiling.
What an experience and certainly an incredible act of kindness. Thanks, Rick!
Authors Note:Â Every word of this story is true. David is my son and Jess is my daughter-in-law. Theringfinders.com is a real organization and Rick, a stranger to David and Jess, did them a service they will remember for the rest of their lives. Sometimes fact is stranger than fiction!
Hard to imagine life without her. When the hell did everything start to unravel?
He sat alone in the shell of their apartment nursing his second Dewars. Once upon a time this place was alive with people enjoying one of their famous dinner parties. He could hear the sound of her spirited laugh when someone told a dirty joke.
They were the perfect couple, the envy of all their friends. Theirs was an easy, comfortable marriage. They were in sync in their choices of restaurants, paint colors and the biggest decision of all .⊠neither one wanted kids.
Out of the blue the call arrived. It was late and I was beyond tired after a day of Christmas shopping and decorating. We were tempted to let it go straight to voice mail, but Gary thought it might be important.Â
âGary? Hi, itâs Alice from the adoption agency. I hope you and Carol are sitting down! We have a baby for you! Can you come by in the morning to talk?â
Gary stood up; his face registered shock. âWhat? My God! Are you sure?” Completely convinced that something terrible had happened, I grabbed the phone from Gary. âThis is Carol Wheeler. Whoâs this, please?â
It was not bad news …. just the opposite. It was elating, magical, top-of-the-world, The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year news!
A baby in need of a home! A baby for us to love!!
âYes!! Weâll be there! Oh, Alice. Iâm so happy! Thank you so much!â I was rambling.
Dumbstruck, we stood there âŠ. then pandemonium broke loose. Laughing, crying, hugging, kissing, dancing, tossing tinsel around the room like crazy people. Anytime would have been amazing but for this to be happening during the holiday season was wondrous!
We didnât think âŠ. or even care âŠ. to ask âboy, girl, age, etc., etc.â? After eight years of trying to get pregnant and faced with disappointment each time, an incredibly strong and loving stranger was presenting us with the most precious gift imaginable.
âGary, do you realize in a few days we will be a family of three?â I asked breathlessly.
IN A FEW DAYS!!
All tiredness forgotten, we raced to the attic for the plastic bins of assorted baby items. There in the corner stood the bassinet; it seemed to glow in the darkness. I believe at that moment I heard angels singing. We reverently carried it down to our room. I leaned into Gary, overcome with elated exhaustion.
And then the phone rang a second time. We stared at it, afraid to answer, sure it was Alice calling to say the babyâs mom had changed her mind, there would be no happy family for us.
I reached for the phone and wearily, warily said âThis is Carol.â
âCarol, itâs Alice again. Sorry to bother you and Gary but thereâs been a development.â
I closed my eyes waiting for the words I didnât want to hear. Not now, not at Christmastime. Alice continued talking and I felt my knees growing weak.
Stunned, crying, all I could manage was a hushed âOh, Alice! Are you absolutely sure? How could this be happening? Yes. Yes, I understand.â
I hung up the phone without even saying goodbye. I was already crying when I turned to face Gary. He held me close and whispered âShh. Itâs ok, honey. Everything will be ok. Another baby is out there waiting for us. Itâs just a matter of time.â
On tiptoes, I reached up to give my darling husband a little kiss. I murmured âI love youâ, my mouth just brushing his. I looked into his eyes and spoke, my voice breaking.
âOh, Gary. There was a mix up at the hospital and Alice was given the wrong information.â
Gary started to speak but I gently placed my fingers on his lips to quiet him. I continued.
âAlice called just now to ask how we feel about adopting twins.â
Iâm quite sure neither of us was breathing at that moment. Garyâs eyes grew wide as the realization sunk in and I let out a little laugh. Gary put up two fingers and mouthed the word âTwoâ. I nodded and replied âTwo. Twin girlsâ.
We fell to the couch, a huddle of tears and laughter and hugs. Then I heard my loveâs voice next to my ear: âI told you another baby was out there waiting for us!â
Fandango gave us a Story Starter prompt and Denise at GirlieOnTheEdge challenged us to write a Six Sentence Story, being as creative with punctuation as we dare. This is my answer to Fan’s prompt and Girlie’s challenge. Enjoy! đ¶đ¶đ¶
One day when I was about nine years old, I was home with my mother when there was a knock on our door and when I answered it, I was very surprised to see Dottie Pessin â our pudgy-handed neighbor from around the corner who rarely made an appearance â standing there in her perpetually stained housecoat, carrying a thin, flat brown paper bag, hair in curlers, and declaring âOh, Nancy, Iâm soglad youâre home from school because I have something for you and Iâd like to come in to show you.â
Well, it wasnât every day that someone came to our door unannounced bearing gifts for me for no reason under the sun, so I was not about to turn Dottie away (I was no fool, even back then), but my mother had now joined us and was somewhat suspicious about this strange, unexpected visit and asked Dottie to explain herself, to which Dottie replied âI was out shopping when I came across this album of kid’s songs and I immediately thought of Nancy, so I bought it hoping she would like it” and clapping her pudgy hands added “I’m very anxious for her reaction so let’s give it a listen.”
Now, I don’t mind telling you this surprised the hell out of me and pleased me no end because I was already madly in love with everything about music and could barely contain my excitement as I reached for my little record player with the image of Brenda Lee on the lid; Dottie apparently shared my enthusiasm and as the music played she kept asking me âDo you like it? Do you like it?â to which I had to admit I did indeed like it very much (seeing as how I was a kid listening to an album of kid’s songs â what’s not to like?).
We listened to one side of the album and, as I was flipping it over to listen to the other side, Dottie exclaimed âOh, Iâm so pleased you like the album but I just noticed the time and the “Edge Of Night” is coming on in 15 minutes so Iâm going to take the record back now and be on my wayâ; my mother, ever in She-Wolf mode, saw the confused and let-down look on my face and was damn well taken aback herself by that strange and sudden announcement by Dottie âŠ. after all, the album was supposed to be a gift âŠ. and my mother questioned Dottie in no uncertain terms âJust what the hell do you mean youâll take Nancy’s gift back, Dottie?â
Without an apparent thought for others nor the slightest bit of remorse or worry …. not about my mother’s sizzling Sicilian volcano temper nor the sadness building in my eyes …. Dottie replied âOh, this isnât a gift for Nancy;I bought this for my friendâs daughter whoâs the same age as Nancy, but since I donât know anything about little girls (never having had any myself) and the things they like, I wanted to run it by Nancy first to get her opinion, just to make sure it was a good gift and my friend’s daughter wouldn’t be disappointedâ, and with that, Dottie Pessin …. our pudgy-handed neighbor from around the corner who rarely made an appearance …. patted the curlers in her hair, took her thin, flat brown paper bag with the album of kidâs songs inside, held it tightly against her perpetually stained housecoat and bounced out our house like the giant green Grinchhelium balloon in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade without so much as a pudgy-handed wave or a glance over her shoulder to spy a regret-filled teardrop fall onto my purple Daisy Duck sweater (because all the other girls wore Minnie Mouse sweaters and I was never like all the other girls).
Now, you may be asking yourself âCould something this bizarre really be true and how could that woman screw with a little girl’s feelings like that?â and I will tell you that it most certainly is true â every pitiful word; I have no idea how someone could be so unaware and insensitive (unless they have their head so far up their ass they can smell Brylcreem) but, after 60-plus years, I still remember that surreal afternoon with Dottie Pessin like it was yesterday and, being a smart cookie for a 9 year old, I had the same thought about Dottie back then as I have this very moment: “What a stupid bitch!” đ
This is the Rolling Stones performing “Bitch” …. as if anything else would do!
It’s time to celebrate Birthday Thursdays over at The Rhythm Section. No fuss, no muss â just wall-to-wall music. Stop by for some cake and sympathy! đ https://rhythmsection.blog/