I went to get my engagement ring cleaned today at the jewelry store. I got there later than I anticipated and the time it was going to take to remove the excessive grime, goo and gunk from the depths of all the crevices, was longer than I had to wait, so I had to leave it there. The sales person handed me a small slip of paper with a claim number on it and she walked away with my ring.
I encountered a strange feeling as she left. I had just gotten something that's virtually worthless (a small slip of paper) in exchange for something that's very valuable to me (my ring.) As I walked out in the rain, I held on to the little slip of paper with the claim number on it more tightly than the little piece of paper deserved.
I got in the car, put it on the dash. Decided that wasn't a good spot in case there was an unknown crack or hole somewhere. I moved it to my pocket. I worried it might fall out when I pulled out the key or phone later. I finally moved it to my wallet where it would remain safe until pick up time.
But what if I did lose the claim ticket? There is video in the store, I'm sure they would eventually give me back my ring. But it would be a hassle. It reminded me of a lost claim check situation that happened in Las Vegas many years ago.
I was with two of my associates. We had been working together for a good while and we had the weekend off. Adam maintained residence in Las Vegas for tax purposes. His "residence" was with at the house of his aunt and uncle, although he didn't keep possessions there and he only visited rarely. His job was travel and he was good at his job.
That weekend was lots of fun in Las Vegas. His aunt and uncle were wealthy. They had a stunning house in a neighborhood where the Prince of Brunei, who at the time was one of the world's wealthiest royals, maintained a home. It was a posh neighborhood. And as his aunt and uncle weren't home that weekend, we had the place all to ourselves.
He had his choice of vehicles when we went to the casinos and on Saturday so he chose the Mercedes. We got to MGM and he decided to valet park the car. Food, gambling, entertainment and hours later we're ready to head back. Adam looked, he couldn't find the valet ticket. And this posed a problem.
First, the car wasn't his. His name wasn't on the registration. Second, his last name wasn't the same as his aunt and uncles. How was he going to get their car back? How was he going to explain losing their car because he couldn't keep track of a single piece of paper? He started talking to the valet guys about what options he had.
He could describe the car in detail, but what got him the car back wasn't the color of the leather or the type of wheels. They told him if he could tell them about something in the car that no one would know about unless they had been in the car, they'd let him have it. And this he could do. He'd left his crippled sunglasses in the glove compartment. The glasses were missing a screw and the left side hinged down as well as in and out.
They pulled the car up, got the glasses, checked the broken behavior and handed the car over to us. As we drove off he said, "Who would have thought a broken pair of glasses would have gotten me an eighty thousand dollar car?"
The Big Boy Update: Happy Birthday song. Last night at dinner, he burst into song. The happy birthday song. We haven't been able to get him to sing a song by himself, much less sing in tune with understandable words. But he knows the happy birthday song. My husband and I both did a double take when he started singing, stared at him and then looked at each other and said, "did you hear that?" We got a bit of it on video, as he was willing to sing some of the lines over for us. We asked who's birthday it was at school. He said Martha.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: In the box. She likes to be in a box. Most especially if the box is full and she's sitting on top of everything in the box. She's done this a lot lately, with anything from balls to uncomfortable blocks. She sits in the box, grabs individual items, throws them out and says, "Oooooooahhhh" every time. Sometimes she almost falls out of the box as she leans over and tries to get items and put them back in the box.
Someone Once Said: Goodness alone is never enough. A hard, cold wisdom is required for goodness to accomplish good. Goodness without wisdom always accomplishes evil.
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