Monday, February 05, 2007

weekly post from January 27, 2007

Hello friends & loved ones,

Another week is behind us and we're downright cold here in Western, NY. Yes, we were socked with plummeting temperatures and, believe it or not, I heard a report this past week about a youth in the midwest who tried to emulate Flick from the movie A Christmas Story. A boy in Wisconsin stuck his tongue out in 9 degree weather and it froze to a stop sign. Eventually he got his tongue unstuck but not without losing some skin (ouch!!!). No word on if anyone "triple dog dared" him.

In other news, this past week I had some drama of my own. Last Sunday evening I had just sat down at the computer to do some emails and I gasped and almost had a coronary. I noticed my ring was missing; the bigger worry was that I had no idea how long or where it had fallen off of my finger. I spent most of Sunday evening driving Jim crazy with my worry and turning over every surface I could move in the house. We searched for our wrench so we could look in the pipes but, of course, those were no where to be found. I had no clue if I lost it in the house, down the drain, or somewhere else. On Monday night while I was at work one of my colleagues said she would bring a wrench to work the next night. Thankfully I didn't need them. On Tuesday evening I went to get a pair of jeans but the top pair had a hole in them so I picked up the pair underneath. At that point I heard a clink in the drawer and when I looked it was my ring. Somehow, maybe after putting lotion on my hands, my ring had fallen off of my finger. I think it was while I was putting away clothes. Jim would have people believe that I have lost so much weight that my fingers have shrunk but I weigh about the same as when we first met. When he wrote about this in HIS weekly email, people assumed that I had taken my ring off. No, that was not the case. What does worry me a bit about this is how I got so upset over the "loss" of the ring. It's not like I lost my spouse; only the symbol of our love. It's not even a ring we exchanged when we got married; we had them long before that. So, why is it that I felt as if a part of me had died? I'm not quite sure yet. I do know that it felt like I was no longer whole and like my life was suddenly different. Many people place no value on symbols; to them it's just another thing but for many symbols are treated with respect much like royalty. I knew when I "lost" my ring that I was still married and that my spouse was right next to me but for some reason it felt like a change had occurred; like I would never be the same again. At least not until I had a new ring. It was really a strange sensation. One that requires more reflection.

That's my story for the week and I'm sticking to it. I hope wherever you are you are safe, happy, and healthy and warm.

peace,

paul

No comments: