Between cold weather in the winter and gardening in the summer

 Between cold weather in the winter and gardening in the summer, I put on hand lotion about ten times a day, but if I don't take the topaz ring off every time, then the little crevices get all disgusting, and yet, I was afraid I would lose the ring if I kept taking if off?"THAT'S IT!" I exclaimed. "Hand lotion!"My husband gave me a sidelong glance. "Huh?"Just before we got to the church, I took off my ring and laid it in my lap so I could get some more hand lotion, but I  didn't put it back ON."By this time we had nearly reached the reception hall."Check the floor," Randy suggested.I frantically thrust aside the floor mat?but there was no ring.Then I groped under the seat. No ring there, either.Randy quietly asked the next logical question. "Did it somehow fall into your purse?"I hurriedly checked my purse. Nope. No ring."Could it have fallen into your coat pocket?"My coat had big, horizontal pockets?but?no ring."All right," Randy said, as he searched for a place to turn around, "that must mean it fell onto the ground when you got out of the car."Fell on the ground!I could feel my throat growing tighter. "What if somebody drove over it?" I wailed."Don't get yourself all worked up for nothing," Randy said soothingly."For NOTHING? But - it's my ring?the one you gave me when you asked me to marry you?"Actually, Randy didn't give me the ring. Santa Claus did. In a crowded mall. In front of a group of parents who were there with their kids. When Randy got down on one knee, everyone applauded?"We'll find your ring,"my husband said. "Don't worry."Although the drive back to the church seemed to take twice as long, we finally reached the parking lot."Now, let's see," Randy murmured, "we were parked over there?"And before I could manage to unbuckle my seat belt, he had stopped the car, thrown open the door and?"Here it IS!" my husband shouted triumphantly, truck brake pad Factoryscooping the ring off the ground.If I'd felt like crying tears of consternation before, I felt like sobbing with relief now."Happy Valentine's Day," Randy said with a smile. "Hold out your hand."As he slid the ring onto my finger, however, I noticed HIS hands were shaking. And not just a slight tremor.I pointed this out to him."Yes, well," he said, "it's not every day your wife loses her ring in a parking lot and then you spend the next half hour hoping it didn't get stuck in somebody's tire treads."I stared at him in disbelief.Oh, sure. For years I've been under the impression that the man didn't have a nerve in his body - that nothing ever rattled him.And now this.Then again, it also means that I have discovered one more reason to admire my husband. Even when he's rattled, he can still think calmly in a crisis.If only he could teach me to do the same thing.About The AuthorLeAnn R. Ralph is the editor of the Wisconsin Regional Writer (the quarterly publication of the Wisconsin Regional Writers' Assoc.) and is the author of the book, Christmas in Dairyland (True Stories from a Wisconsin Farm) (August 2003).