Radio address for December 14, 2013. We tend to place a bit of our power into things: trees, books, jewels, bullets and hats. Lose one of these talismans, and you are put to a world of trouble to get it back again.
I never really thought I’d write about the experience of losing my wedding ring, but the time seems to have come when I can talk about it reasonably. Not long after it happened, encouraged by stories such as this one, I tried posting on some treasure hunting boards, and a couple of people said they’d look but ultimately I never heard back.
The second loss (not talked about in the audio): As mentioned at the tail end of the episode, there was another time when I actually lost my second ring too: it went missing for a few months. One day my mom shows up at my door with the ring: it had been found under their piano, looking like this:
The jeweler was able to restore it to its original condition, and in the process reduce it by a half size, making it a little less likely that I’ll ever have to live through this again.
This address’s extremely appropriate and well-placed music cues are:
- The Blue World from Lady in the Water by James Newton Howard
- Wow, from Finding Nemo, by Thomas Neumann
- Treasure, from Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by Alberto Inglesias — “…those wanings of power, which are the inevitable result of old age…”
- …blended seamlessly into One Ring to Rule Them All, from Fellowship Of The Ring, by Howard Shore
- and ending with The Grey Havens, also by Howard Shore, from The Return of the King
Comments
Mark #
This is scary podcast for someone with both irrational sentimentality and chronic forgetfulness. I’ve lost so many things that I’ve invested in emotionally that these days, to save myself from heartache and regret, I try to limit how much I own. The less I own, the less I care about.
I know eventually I will have to add a wedding ring to my life. While I understand the meaning behind it, it’s hard to think of it as something other than a risk. But I suppose, as with your daughter, great risk must be made at some point for anything priceless, and I might as well get used to it.
Ted #
The phrase of the week for me: “…wearable ounce of pure forgiveness.” That was precious.
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