Tomorrow morning I'll be heading out of town for back to back, work related meetings. I'll be returning on Thursday. Tuesday is my birthday and since I'll be gone, Jeff decided to celebrate it today. If you've been stopping by here for a while you'll know that I have lovingly referred to Jeff as "Chef Jeff" before. (If you're new, you can read a little bit about Chef Jeff here and here.) Jeff's cooking has been very good over the past several months. Very, very good! His specialty is Florentine Meatballs so for my birthday I asked him to make some for me. He was more than happy to oblige.
This afternoon while Jeff was cooking, I sat in the family room and loaded some new music on my MP3 player. It didn't take long before I could smell the wonderful aroma of the meatballs wafting through the house. While the meatballs were baking Jeff came in the family room to join me. Before sitting down he took the dog outside for a few minutes. When he came back inside he had a look of concern on his face as he slowly held up his left hand. "I lost my wedding ring" he said. "It must have come off when I threw a snow ball for the dog to chase." I offered some encouraging words (okay..well, maybe they weren't all that encouraging) and told him that hopefully we will be able to find it when the snow melts. We sat together in silence for a few minutes. I could tell Jeff was thinking about something. The silence was broken when he looked at me and said, "Well, I HOPE it came off when I was outside because I was just thinking that there's a good chance it might be in the meatballs."
We're just getting ready to sit down and eat. Hopefully I'll live to see 43 on Tuesday.
First off Happy Birthday!
Your story reminds me of a couple of things. My first marriage, which lasted about as long as Carrot Top's movie career, was not grounded in anything and the "beta" wife came from a family of some wealth. As our marriage was crumbling we opted to try to have a "second honeymoon" by going to St. Kitts, then the newest nation on the planet...for a vacation which we picked out primarily because all the booze was free.
First day there I dove into the ocean, St. Kitts is betwixt the Carribean and the Atlantic, off the coast of Venezuela sort of...anyway, I noticed immediately my wedding band had slipped off. I dove and dove, hired a kid to dive around...no sign of it...but my the wife took it as a "sign" and it wasn't the happiest of weeks.
Bought a new ring, way overpriced for a gold band, as soon as I returned...and got divorced a few months later.
Fast forward 10 years or so, I'm married to the "right" wife this time. Foundation solid. Her parents are coming for Christmas and I'm raking up a bizillion leaves from the yard to make it look like I'm not the slacker I am... I proudly look at the yard and the 30 bags of leaves I've stacked neatly on the curb and realize...no wedding ring.
I go through each one off those bags in a panic...not mentioning a word to Amy...no ring.
I am literally beside myself thinking back to St. Kitts. Now, I'm going to freakin' ruin Christmas...and maybe another marriage.
I pray to God, "Please, give me a break, Lord!"
Seconds later I look down at a spot I must have searched a dozen times, and there's my ring. Major relief.
I go inside, and confess the whole story to Amy...she says matter of factly, "It's just a ring, you could always wear the one from your other marriage, it's in the drawer in your desk...makes no difference to me."
Another man might have read something different into that...another man being me, during another season in life, but I knew what she was saying...The ring is just a symbol...she wasn't relying on symbols to assure her of my fidelity or faith. She knew my heart.
Since then we've swapped out wedding bands on several occasions, for ones that had a special meaning to us at that particular season...never expensive..but still binding.
So, I suppose what I'm saying in a rambling way is...knowing that you and Jeff have stood fast with each other thru some very hard times is....
Eat the meatballs...this too shall pass:)
Grace & Peace,
Michael
Posted by: Michael Main | March 18, 2007 at 09:37 PM
Allow me to wish you an early happy birthday!
Posted by: Antony | March 19, 2007 at 05:55 AM
if it is in the meatballs i think you will notice...chew carefully.
if i make muffins or something and a tiny tiny TINY bit of eggshell gets in the batter....you betcha i usually find it. if that happens to microscopic bits of eggshell i am sure you will find a man's wedding ring.
happy birthday deb!!
may this truly be a banner year for you!
Posted by: maryann | March 19, 2007 at 06:57 AM
Did you find the ring?
Happy Birthday girl!! I hope the meatballs were better than the pizza episode. ;)
Posted by: tom reindl | March 19, 2007 at 06:58 AM
Great story Michael! There are 3 meatballs left with no sign of the ring. I'm hedging on the ring being burried in a snow bank but who knows.
This is also a second ring for me. My first ring was lost by my mother-in-law or my father-in-law. I had taken it off and given it to them for "safe keeping" so I could go for a swim 1 week after we were married. It was never seen again.
At the time I wondered if that was some type of message for me from my in-laws. ;)
Posted by: jeff | March 19, 2007 at 07:32 AM
I just popped over to say thanks for the kind words about CREDO--but now I want to know what was in the last last three meatballs.
Posted by: Keith | March 19, 2007 at 04:34 PM
Well Keith, at this point they've been in the refrigerator for the past 24hrs w/ no covering. I think you can imagine what they look like now. I'm not sure if I'm gonna eat them... any volunteers?
Posted by: jeff | March 19, 2007 at 09:32 PM
just smash them and get it over with....LOL
your adoring fans want to know...
Posted by: maryann | March 20, 2007 at 08:47 AM
I'm now thinking you might put them on Ebay...
"Could contain a ring....or salmonella" :)
Posted by: Michael Main | March 20, 2007 at 10:51 AM
Thanks for the birthday wishes! Jeff - you didn't cover the meatballs??? I go away and all hell breaks loose ;-)
I miss you!
Posted by: Deb | March 20, 2007 at 09:36 PM
Haha!!! That's not the only thing that's gone to hell! ;^)
Anyhow, I thought I'd report that I was in a hurry for din-din tonight and decided to heat up those dried out little buggers and eat them.
NO RING!!!
Guess we're going to have to wait for the snow to melt. I miss you too!!!
love,
Posted by: jeff | March 20, 2007 at 10:55 PM
For those waiting with bated breath on the status of the "ring", you can start breathing again! With all that snow melting, I looked around on the ground where I made the snow ball to throw at the dog, and behold the "ring" shown forth!
It was a beautiful site. As I picked it up to slide back on my finger, I think I saw the slight glimmer of a rainbow. My heart glowed and for a brief moment ~ All was well.
Posted by: jeff | March 23, 2007 at 06:14 AM
happy to hear it.
and Deb lived thru the birthday...and now has a story too!
Posted by: maryann | March 23, 2007 at 07:55 AM
I want to tell you congratulations on finding the ring ..
And, as a related sidenote: I recieved my engagement ring baked into a meatball (on purpose) by my husband and friends...
When I decided not to finish what was on my plate (that mb among other items), Eric swooped it up, threw it in his mouth, disected it and then kissed me - ring delivered to it's intended recipient...
That terrible story had no negative impact on our marriage...And it makes for good incentive on the clean plate club ..."You may want to finish that, Love... You know, Mommy once found diamonds in her meatballs" ...
Posted by: Beth Wacome Keck | March 25, 2007 at 02:20 PM