"The ring that love made"
By Bob Perks © 2001

18k white gold. The initials engraved carefully on the inside of the ring are "J.T.-J.W.P." It has a big ruby in the center and a place for two small rubies on each side. One is missing.

I might have mentioned to you that I found it while getting out of my car at the barbershop. I had forgotten about it until today. It was time to get a haircut again.

"Linda, did anyone say they lost a ring?" I asked when I walked in the door.

"Well, hello! Say "Hello" first, Bob." she said.

"I'm sorry Linda. Suddenly that ring that I found is haunting me."

"Oh, don't tell me that. You know I believe that you can still feel the energy of the owner of that ring, just by holding it in your hand."

Linda and I have talked about stuff like this before. She really is fascinating. That's why I keep going back there. I can trust her to do what she can with my hair and I love the conversation we have.

But this idea of me feeling the energy in it, leaves me empty. I'm not saying it can't be done. I'm just saying I can't do it. Now I'll be the first to admit that I believe we are all connected by energy. I mean people, plants, rocks, everything. That's why I feel so connected to the world. It explains why I can't hunt, why I hate to see a tree cut down and why I can sit in my swing in the back yard for hours.

"No one mentioned losing a ring, Bob. I even asked people about it. People I thought just might own a ring like that," she said.

When I got home I looked for it and sat in my office here just holding it. I took out my magnifying glass and studied it.

Here's what I came up with.

I've got to get it back to the owner.

A ring is an unbroken circle. This one had been cut on the bottom, most likely because it didn't fit any more.

Like a ring, the love between these two people went full circle. These initials connected them in a forever bond. I hold it and wonder how old it is. I can picture the engraver etching those letters one at a time in the shiny untouched gold. Even that process helped these two lovers carve a place in the world.

I can imagine the excitement when she went to pick it up at the jeweler's.

"Oh, excellent! I know he's going to love this," she says.

"Oh, honey. What a magnificent ring! I don't know what to say. It is just perfect. Almost as perfect as you are," he says as he places it on his finger and reaches to hold her hand.

They stand there gazing lovingly at it and each other.

Maybe it was a birthday gift or a celebration of the day they met.

Then I think about the places it has been. Perhaps it has traveled around the world. At least through a lifetime of good times and bad. Marriage perhaps a birth or two. It went from being an "I love you!" ring to a "husband ring" and a "Daddy ring."

Now it's just a missing ring. Like the cut in the ring itself the circle, the connection is broken as long as I have it in my possession. Some where out there may be a son or daughter who wanted one day to have "the ring that love made."

Linda, you are right. I do feel something when I hold it. I feel sorry for whoever lost it.

"I believe in You!"
Bob Perks © 2001

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