Thursday, August 6, 2009

The Ring


I was watching home videos today with my children and noticed that in every tape we have of my husbands grandmother she is wearing a ring I gave her. She had told me before she passed that she never forgot where it came from or who gave it to her. She said that every time she looked down at her hand she was reminded of my smiling face the day she commented on it and I slid it off my finger and placed it on hers. After she passed in January of this year, my mother in law gave it back to me. I was so grief stricken that I just placed it in my purse and left it there for a couple of days. When I took it out of my purse I noticed that she wasn't kidding when she said she never removed it from her hand. It was originally a sterling silver band but had turned black and was "caked" with a substance underneath the setting. I cleaned it and placed with my other keepsakes. I took it out today and slid it on my hand. It didn't seem right, as the ring had become Nannee's. I realized that in the last 10yrs. the ring was on her hand when she rolled crusts as she baked someone's favorite pie. It was on her hand when she rocked each and every one of her great grandchildren. The ring was present when she folded her loving hands in prayer every night as she knelt by her bed and called us each by name to her heavenly father. I thought at the time that I was bestowing a gift to her but in the end I realize that the gift was all mine!



photo from google images

3 comments:

Mario and Amy Andreani said...

What a wonderful story! It is amazing a gift so small can hold so many priceless memories! :)

Shauna said...

What a beautiful story it made me tear up and miss my grandma! It is amazing how the small and simple thing mean the most.

Cindy said...

What a sweet story. We always receive back more than we ever thought possible when we give, don't we. Giving her that ring was such a loving thing for you to do. Hugs, ~cindy s~