Ring

My mom was and is very proud of her high school. Go Cardinal Dougherty Cardinals. Seriously they are the Cardinal's Cardinals. That is like having General MacArthur High School Generals. Redundant somewhat.

When my mom got married, she gave her class ring to her father. In the 50's this was some type of tradition (as was getting class rings and knowing your high school fight song and pep rallies). She was his odlest child and the first to get married. The idea being that she would replace her class ring with her wedding ring.

I can picture my Pop-Pop asking her, "Barbara, what am I supposed to do with this?"

"You are supposed to wear it dad. It will indicate that your daughter is married."

My grandfather's response was something like, "Barbara, I have ten daughters, if each one gets married I will have to wear ten class rings. I can't do that."

But my grandfather promised to hold onto the ring for my mom. Over the years the ring disappeared. Misplaced and forgotten. But not by my mom. Every now and then she would ask her father if he still had it. He did not know where it was.

Misplaced and forgotten.

My grandfather died 6 years ago. His wife, my Mom-Mom died two years ago. My aunt, who lived with them and cared for them, was responsible for settling their affairs. Slowly but surely she made sure that their final wishes were handled. She took her time removing their belongings, giving some items to charity and also making sure that each of their twelve children received the mementos that they each wanted.

Settling the affairs of two people who lived into their late 70's/early 80's, who had twelve kids and 37 grand children, and 30 plus great grand children, takes some time. The last thing my aunt needed to do was to clean out the basement of all my grandfather's tools. He had quite the collection. My aunt scheduled an "open house" for February 2008 for all of Pop Pop's grandchildren to come and take any tools they wanted.

A bunch of the grandkids and many of my siblings showed up to take various gadgets and tools. My siblings and I were still mourning the passing of my dad and the "open house" provided a good distraction. My grandfather was very organized and had multiple light switches and plates and outlet covers and connecters still in their orginal packages. He had every type of screw, nail, nuts, and bolts in little containers each marked with its contents. There was a ton of stuff.

My brother Jim eyed a clear container that was not makred and that was packed with fabric of some kind. He asked my aunt if he could open it and she said yes. Inside the container were old boy scout and girl scout patches that my aunts and uncles had all received. At the bottom of the container, wrapped in a patch, was my mom's class ring.

My dad, my mom's husband of 44 years, had died a month before. It was a very trying time for my mom. As the wedding vows go "til death do us part" and she was no longer a wife but a widow. She was no longer married. My brother Jim brought the class ring to my mom. She was thrilled. Like the ring's shape, it had come back full circle.

My grandfather, my mom's dad, did not misplace the ring. It was not forgotten. He was waiting for the right time to return the ring to my mom.

His timing was perfect.


My mom's birthday is July 4th. Happy Birthday Mom. I love you.