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My brother's special holiday gift
Thu, Dec. 29th, 2011 06:38 amMore than twenty years ago, my mother gifted my brother with my father's college ring. It was a special thing: a ring from Hunter College where my dad attended on the GI bill during the first year the school was coed. The ring was beautiful, with a lavender-colored stone, highly detailed, but made of metal a lot thinner than school rings are made of today. My brother appreciated it and wore it.
Then one day, while working on his very first car, he removed the ring, put it on the ground nearby . . . and forgot it was there. He rolled the car right over it and crushed it. By then, my mom had already passed away. I was furious with his carelessness. He wouldn't talk about it, but he kept the poor, crushed thing all these years.
About three months ago, unbeknownst to my brother (but beknownst to everyone else in his life) my sister-in-law absconded with the ring and took it to a place called something like the Jewelry Hospital. They took on the job of repairing the damage. Sis-in-law says that the jeweler said that he'd work on it for a few hours, start cursing, and step away, then go back to it again until he'd start cursing again, and so on. For three months. He went through four stones trying to replace the original. But he did it. He restored the ring. The ring came back to us wrapped in tissue paper in a pill bottle. It was gorgeous.
Sis-in-law gave it to my brother on Christmas morning. At first, he didn't look at the bottle carefully and thought she'd given him jewelry polish. We had to prod him a little to remove the tissue paper and unwrap it. When he finally saw what was inside, he cried. I nearly did myself. It was like we'd found a family member we'd thought we'd lost forever.
Then one day, while working on his very first car, he removed the ring, put it on the ground nearby . . . and forgot it was there. He rolled the car right over it and crushed it. By then, my mom had already passed away. I was furious with his carelessness. He wouldn't talk about it, but he kept the poor, crushed thing all these years.
About three months ago, unbeknownst to my brother (but beknownst to everyone else in his life) my sister-in-law absconded with the ring and took it to a place called something like the Jewelry Hospital. They took on the job of repairing the damage. Sis-in-law says that the jeweler said that he'd work on it for a few hours, start cursing, and step away, then go back to it again until he'd start cursing again, and so on. For three months. He went through four stones trying to replace the original. But he did it. He restored the ring. The ring came back to us wrapped in tissue paper in a pill bottle. It was gorgeous.
Sis-in-law gave it to my brother on Christmas morning. At first, he didn't look at the bottle carefully and thought she'd given him jewelry polish. We had to prod him a little to remove the tissue paper and unwrap it. When he finally saw what was inside, he cried. I nearly did myself. It was like we'd found a family member we'd thought we'd lost forever.