A Valentine's Story: The Lost Ring

Earlier this week while passing some time before boarding my train home (from NYC) I wandered through some of the shops at Grand Central. I was surprised to find that there is a Pylones there now. I have shopped their Spring Street location and gotten some cute gifts for Zoë. With Valentine's day coming, I decided to pop in and look for a little present for her and I was not disappointed. I found an adorable chunky plastic ring that was blue with little red hearts -- definitely right up her alley.

On Valentine's Day morning when she was all ready for school and we were just about to go to the bus stop I gave her the ring and, as predicted, she loved it. She hugged me and thanked me like I had given her a diamond and immediately put it on. "Mommy it is so beautiful!"

Then we got our coats, hats, and gloves on and headed out. When her good friend Hannah arrived at the bus stop she wanted to show off her ring so she yanked off her glove and with the glove the adorable chunky plastic ring that was blue with little red hearts went flying off her finger and promptly down into the storm drain. There was a moment of silence as everyone at the bus stop realized what had happened and then Zoë immediately broke down into sobs. She wrapped herself around me and shook with crying.

"I'll get you a new one," I promised in an effort to make her feel better despite the fact that I had no idea how I would go about getting back to New York and back to the Pylones store.

"But Mommy," she weeped. "I loved it so much."

"I know honey. I promise I will get you a new one. It is OK, really." I held her as she cried until the bus pulled up to the corner. Then I wiped her tears with my coat sleeve and she ran to board the bus.

"Oh man, that is rough. What are you going to do? The lunch time scramble?" asked one of the parents. I really didn't know because there was no way I could get to Grand Central. On my way into work I figured that I would go shopping at lunch time in hopes of finding a suitable substitute gift. I had the good fortune of being out to lunch with Becky who, after enduring yet another long Zoë story, brilliantly recalled seeing similar rings at our local Papyrus. The rings were there! Although they didn't have the same design they had some nice ones so I picked out a red and pink design and felt that I had done my best at making it all better.

Later on that afternoon I recounted the saga to my husband who just happened to be home early. About ten minutes later he called me back asking me which storm drain exactly because he was outside with one of the pool nets and was going to try and find the ring. He spent an hour digging sludge out of the storm drain looking for this ring. Sadly, he never found it although he did report finding a lot of plastic forks. I'm not sure why plastic forks are attracted to storm drains, but apparently they are. Personally, I wouldn't touch the stuff in a storm drain -- even with the ten foot pole he was using, but I give the man real "props" for this one.

When I got home from work I gave Zoë the substitute red and pink design ring and she hugged me fiercely and said, "Oh Mommy, this one is even prettier!"

Is that a Valentine from my family, or what?