Let me set the stage: It’s the 90s. I loved going to malls (I still love malls today, but they’ve mostly been torn down and replaced with strip malls). I found some cute, space/planet themed rings at Claire’s at the mall. I bought one for myself, and one for my sister (who in another life might have been an astronomer). If I remember correctly, they only had one moon ring, so I gave that one to my sister, and bought what I thought was Mars, but maybe Jupiter, for myself. I may have even visited other Claire’s looking for more selection of these rings. It was a Claire’s ring after all, so probably cost all of $8. All the same, I loved my ring. It was well before I ever did any resin jewelry, but my love for that ring feels like it aligns with my direction towards eventually making resin jewelry. I was still living at my parents’ house at the time and was trimming their front bushes, when I realized the ring had fallen off. I looked and looked, but couldn’t find it. I was heartbroken, but I never forgot the ring, and never gave up hope.
Fast forward some (10?) years later my manager at work was a metal detectorist and would often go on the hunt at lunch. He asked if he could search my parents’ property. I was no longer living there so I got permission, and told my manager if he went to please look all around the front bushes, as I’d lost a ring there. I was sure he would find it. No luck, he didn’t find it or much of anything else.
Time passes. My SO and I buy a house around the corner from my parents’ house. More time passes, and finally this summer I decide to scrap and rebuild a side garden bed that had been overrun by catmint. My sister so generously offers to bring over wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of mulch she had from some trees that were taken down the year before. Last weekend I was finally tackling planting some perennials. I pushed some of the mulch out of the way and thought I saw an odd shape. I reached down and it was one of those Claire’s rings! I didn’t even allow myself to go there and immediately assumed that my sister had lost her ring while gathering the mulch. I took a picture and sent her a text message saying I found her ring, and while I’d lost mine long ago, it felt like redemption saving her ring for her. Soon, she walked over and pulled HER ring out of her pocket, she never lost it. The ring I found was mine, that had somehow gotten mixed into the mulch from the tree from the front of the house, and then wheel-barrowed over to my current property.
Near on 30, YES, THIRTY! YEARS! LATER! I have my ring back.
My sister was confused and thought I had lost my ring in my own front bushes at my current house, and when I said “it has been missing since the 90s” she repeated “the 90s” back to me, thinking I was confused. It was meant to be, a sign. Once it sunk in, my sister said “it was Mom!” And then as Rosa said when I told her the story, it “had to with those looking out for me, like a message saying “I’m here and I’m ok, and you are ok.”
THEN, if that wasn’t enough, I was digging a hole for the plants when a rock in the dirt caught my attention. I thought it looked like a hagstone, because of a circular shape on it. I used my fingernail to wipe away the dirt, and was even more sure when the shape was a complete circle. I hit it with the hose and instead of revealing a hole, it was a fossil!
On Monday, I opened Instagram and the first post I saw was from Andy J. Pizza about creating art to “Make Art – Stop Time” and creating art specifically to stay present, and freezing moments in time like a movie scene. My mom and I always talked about losing things, and how amazing it feels when you finally find the thing that was lost. I was giddy after finding that ring, and wanted to make sure I never forget this story. What better way, than to make it into art?
Being off this summer, I haven’t made much art at all, but as soon as I saw Andy’s post I knew I needed to make a piece of art about finding my lost ring thirty years later. Oh my, was I rusty. My hand was shaky while I drew, need to build back up that hand strength and confidence. I knew I wanted to make one of my arched illustration type pieces, but debated if it should be all black and white, or in color with markers. I decided to go with color, but as I said, my hand was shaky, and after I was done, I felt the need to do it all over again, but in black ink.
In the past these pieces had more of a quilt block theme for the side boxes, but on this one I went with very specific items that helped tell the story. The ring is in the center, and the fossil at the bottom. The echinacea (cone flowers) were what I planted in the side bed, I was using my pitch fork and my sister’s shovel to plant, and the top circle is the moon, like on my sister’s ring. I’m still not sure if I’m done, and might attempt another version once I’m more confident. I want to get it JUST RIGHT, to remember this forever.
