The Story Of My Wedding Ring

It’s funny how the major moments in your life cause you to write in your journal. It’s also crazy how it’s easier to blog than journal. I will someday be good at journaling, but until then, I’ll have to blog. Yesterday was one of those days.

I got to the Johnson Mill in Heber to take my bridals. It was a beautiful place and I chose it because I fell in love with the idea of bridals in a canoe. The very first thing I did was climb in the canoe, slightly afraid I’d tip in my big beautiful dress. As my photographer held the edge of the boat for me to get in, I grabbed the side and felt my wedding ring slip off my finger and into the lake. Mortified.

Everyone thought I was joking. The lake was not deep, so we thought we were in luck. The only problem was that there were three or more feet of silt at the bottom and one little movement would stir it all up.

I had no choice but to smile through my bridals as so many people searched. My dad even drove all the way back to South Jordan to get flashlights, a pool net, a shop vac, swimming suits, wet suits, anything he could think of.

No luck with the flashlights, so we had no choice but to start scooping silt. It was too thick to sift, so we put it on the bank of the lake and everyone started searching. The smell was horrendous. Rotten eggs to the max and most likely a lot of poo. Still no luck. My dad thought it would be good to dredge the piles and piles of silt with water and hopefully the ring would rinse though it.  It worked, but for all we knew, the ring could still be in the lake.

I’ve had nightmares that I’ve lost my ring, the diamonds fall out or something, but this was far worse due to several factors, one of which, sifting through this horrible, poo smelling silt. I decided it was time to text Jackson and tell him the bad news when they found it! An honest to goodness miracle! I sobbed and sobbed. And I sobbed.

I understand that a diamond ring is simply that. It’s a ring. The world would continue to turn if I had not found it. But it’s so much more than that. It’s a symbol of Jackson’s love to me and mine to him. And now it’s even more than that. It’s a memory. It’s the beauty of seeing the good in people. It’s seeing my little sister on her knees in a wet suit, ready to take the next step of getting in a cold, smelly lake. It’s my mom shooing away swans so it wouldn’t end up in one of their bellies, It’s my dad, driving distances and rubbing my back to comfort me. It represents that mankind is good, that strangers would sift through grime and spend hours and hours to help someone they don’t even know. It’s the power of prayer and the knowledge that God knows your heart even if he knows its not about the value.

I wish there was some way I could properly thank all the people who helped me yesterday. Thank you Jackson, for loving me if I had not been able to find it. Thank you Amber Shaw, for keeping me calm and having me smile through it. Thank you Mom, for your consoling words. Thank you Hannah, for helping me laugh, Amelia for being determined, Dad for going to the ends of the earth and for having faith, to Sarah and Stacy for your prayers off site, and to all the amazing people at Johnson Mill, for searching through mud and giving me your entire Friday evening. And thank you God, for giving me all these people, when I needed them most. 

You'd think that they were happy, but I think my sisters smile in shock.