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Lost Rings - Date with fate post 70
This entry was posted on 10/27/2011 1:30 AM and is filed under Fate Fairies.
Over thirty years of marriage, I am from time to time asked why I am not wearing my ring. Invariably the asking party has never worked blue-collar. I lost my original ring after ten years of marriage. I was working on a landscape maintenance project for my little private business. It was at an old house in Dallas, Texas, the trees were mature, it was the fall of the year, and there were tons of leaves. The weather was dry, the leaves were dirty and dusty. The ring must have slipped off my finger. Never again I concluded. It was all for nothing. The project and the job sucked. And, I loved that ring. Heide had it made special. It had diagonal grooves on the outside. On the inside she had an inscription placed.
I still think of that ring when I dig around in my garage or storage boxes. I always hope perhaps it will surface in the bottom of some old tool box.
My ring story is rather banal compared to Heide's story. Her ring cost me a fortune at the time. At least I thought it was expensive for a bartender and school bus driver. I suppose nowadays, my humble purchase would be considered small time. Especially, comparing my marriage era of 1981 with the wedding culture during the economic heyday of the mid 1990s and early 2000s.
She never told me there was a problem regarding her ring. It was around the same time I had lost my ring. She gave no indication a woman tragedy had occurred. Apparently her dilemma had been confronting her for some time. I however, never noticed any indiscretions with her ring. Shows how much I pay attention to things. She must have been trying to figure out what to do. Our home insurance would have covered any problem with her ring, but money was not the point; like my ring, her's too had a unique shape and a unique diamond. She even had part of the ring made by a jewelry store she used to work at. It was significant because it was an employer she thought well of - a rare occurrence in the Missery Recession of the 1970s.
One day, I was watching the football game that was on television in the living room. Suddenly, there was a scream from the bathroom. I thought she fell, or cut herself, or god knows what.
When I popped my head in the bathroom door to see what the hell had happened, there she stood, diamond in hand, holding it up to the light.
"I found it! I found it! It was on the damn floor under the sink the whole time!!!" She said.
Then she looked at my incredulous stare.
"Oh, the diamond," she said. "I never told you it had popped off the band a while back..., and it was missing...."
Note: This blog "Fate Fairies" Category does not list the brushes with fate chronologically - I write about the experiences as they pop up in my memory and I often revisit an older event. Go to the Cooldadiomedia Web site and the Fate Fairies Page for an ordered chronology.
Wisconsin Military Service Person Special Mention of the Week
(each week Cooldadiomedia mentions a Wisconsin service person killed in Iraq or Afghanistan)
Army Specialist Joshua Isaac Bunch, 23, Hattiesburg, Mississippi (Born in Kenosha, Wisconsin), was killed Friday, August 6, 2004, when individuals using small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades attacked his vehicle in Baghdad, Iraq. Bunch was assigned to Company B, 91st Engineer Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division, based out of Fort Hood, Texas. The Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs notes that Joshua Bunch was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on December 22, 1980.
The Web site iraq.pigstye.net using information from the Clarion Ledger out of Jackson, Mississippi, states that Joshua Bunch graduated from North Forrest High School, of Hattiesburg, Mississippi in 1999. Bunch had enlisted in the Army in 2001, had served a good portion of his time in Alaska, and was a combat engineer with his unit in Iraq. Specialist Bunch had been in Iraq just five weeks at the time of his death. He became the 15th Mississippian killed in the Iraq war. The Web site article went on to say Joshua loved karate, water-skiing, fishing, snowboarding, and skydiving.
At the time of his death Specialist Joshua Bunch was survived by his adopted father Bill Bunch, his mother Karen Bunch; his sister Sarah Lee, his brother-in-law Sergeant Joe Lee; and, his nephew Joey Lee. Specialist Bunch posthumously received the Purple Heart and a Bronze Star. He was laid to rest at Highland Cemetery in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.
Army Specialist Joshua I. Bunch is the 96th military service person that has been identified by Cool Dadio Media as having Wisconsin connections and that has died in Iraq since the Spring of 2003.
As of this blog entry's posting date:
103,158 Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003 (actually documented).
10,125 Iraqi Security Forces have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
4,482 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
1814 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
318 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
955 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
1 American/Coalition casualty in Libyan "Operation Odyssey Dawn" since March, 2011.
32,213 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
592 Wisconsin military service persons have been wounded in Iraq since Spring 2003.
14,534 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
192 Wisconsin military service persons have been wounded in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
107 Wisconsin military service persons have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
36 Wisconsin military service persons have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
3 Wisconsin military service persons have been killed in the U.S. related to "The War on Terror" since September, 2001.
150 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
22 journalists (various nationalities) have been killed in Afghanistan since September, 2001.
5 journalists (regional and independents) have been killed in Libya since March, 2011.
Wisconsin military service person special mention of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; washingtonpost.com; thehighground.org; Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs; iraqbodycount.org; www.defense.gov/news/casualty.pdf; and, icasualties.org .
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