All my friends had gotten engagement rings. Thea had an oval cut diamond; Bea, a round cut; Lillian’s marquise cut came in that iconic Tiffany box colored Tiffany Blue. When I got engaged Ben had no savings to bedeck me with diamonds. Two summer’s tips had earned him $3,000 as a waiter in Totem Lodge, a summer resort, but that was used for tuition and books for Law School. I boasted that I was not the diamond ring type, secretly wishing I too had a diamond engagement ring.

My future mother-in-law, known to us as Bubbe Lena, was disappointed her son had not given me an engagement ring. One Friday when I visited, I was exploring all the items on the bedroom cabinet and came across a ring. When Bubbe saw it fit me, she said, “You like that ring? No one wears it! You take it.” 

Ben’s sisters, Frieda and Katie soon joined us for the Shabbat dinner. Frieda looked puzzled and asked, “Ethyl, where did you get that ring? I have one just like it.”

“Oh, Bubbe gave it to me,” I embarrassingly replied.

“She can’t give it away, it is my ring,” Frieda asserted. I sheepishly returned the ring to its original location.

Bubbe, even in her financial dire straits said, “Katie, go to all the Antique stores and find a ring like Frieda’s.” Katie shopped and shopped, and I was soon the recipient of a Vintage black onyx ring in a white gold setting with a small diamond in the center of the onyx.

I have worn and loved that ring for all my married years. Sadly, recently the onyx stone came loose from its settings. I lost it somewhere in the house, or in Key Food, or who knows where??? 

A week later, when I lifted the box of Compari tomatoes in my refrigerator salad bin, I was surprised to find the missing onyx gemstone from my vintage ring. The stone had fallen out of its fittings. Who would have imagined it was sleeping with the salads? What a joyous discovery!! 

That ring has never left my third finger and I hope someday it will be passed on to one of my heirs.