We had been back from Geelong for a week, visited Uncle Buzz, had a massage and were settling into home again.
On our first night, after a shower, I put my hand up to an ear and found a space where there shouldn't have been one...... a purple stud earring was missing. How very annoying. I have six studs of three different colours and the purple was my favourite.
The next night, I glanced at my right hand and realised that a ring was missing. My heart skipped a few beats and I felt hollow inside. It was a gold band, with the outside etchings nearly worn off. Steve had given it to me for my birthday in 1980. For the next week, we turned the house and car inside out and upside down. The motels in Geelong and Werribee had our phone number and would have contacted us if they found it. Every night I cried as I went to bed. Steve said that he would buy me a new ring and every night I wailed, "But it won't be the same."
I have my massages in a room at the gym in Kerang. Steve walked in to pick me up one afternoon, wearing a cat that ate the cream grin. He took my right hand and slipped on MY ring! A couple of days before, Uncle Buzz was using a leaf blower at the front of his caravan and he uncovered something gold. He thought it was a gold coin and was amazed to find it was a ring. He figured that it couldn't have been there for very long, as he regularly blew the leaves from that area. He and the other occupants of the caravan park tried to decipher the inscription but had to pass it on to the park owners. The wife used her magnifying glass and read, "Love Steve 1.4.1980." The finding gave the park people something to entertain. It put my heart and stomach back in the right place and stopped the tears. It gave Steve and me a lot of joy and sparked off many happy memories.
A couple of nights later, I dropped a drawing pin and searched for it before I found it with my foot. Following the glint of gold, what did I find? My purple stud! That's good.
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