Vows

"With this ring, I thee wed"

Our wedding rings are handmade unique pieces, which had cost more than my wedding dress. Which is more than OK since I wore the gown one single day and hope to keep the ring for the rest of my life. 

While other people never remove it and consider it an additional body part or something, for me it is a piece of jewelry that deserves special care and attention, and I believe it's not beneficial to regularly expose a precious ring to soap and disinfectant. 

This is why I remove it and put it on the sink every time I wash my hands.

When I'm not at home, I usually put it into my jeans pocket.

On that particular day just last spring, I was wearing pants without pockets. 

I had come to a lovely park where I was looking for magnolia and cherry blossoms. It was getting late, and I wanted to be back home before Colin returned from school.

On my way to the parking lot I came across the club house attached to the tennis courts. Excellent, I was going to pop in for a bathroom break and to purchase a bottle of water.

"Access is for members only. Are you a member?" 

The person who was working there asked me in Italian.

I was stunned.  

A - This place did not look fancy enough to justify snobbish behavior.

B - We were in Zurich, the German speaking part of Switzerland. I took Italian in school, which not too many people do, otherwise I wouldn't even have understood what the guy was saying.

Uh, nope, I'm sorry, I wasn't aware. 

Would you be so kind as to still allow me to use your restroom and to sell me a chilled beverage, please?

I may have sounded a little rusty, but hey, at least I tried.

"OK, make it quick though."

Sure. Wouldn't want to hang out here longer than necessary. The pavilion may have looked great sixty or seventy years ago. Today it had a filthy and run-down feel.

There was one single restroom, to be used by boys and girls. And that's what it looked like. Plus it was super tiny and narrow. To top it off, there was no more toilet paper. 

*Sigh*

Good thing I always carry tissues in my purse. I used one to put on the tiny sink with my ring on it, and the others, well, en lieu of toilet paper. 

I washed my hands, used more tissues to dry my hands, threw them into the bin and left with a short Arrivederci e Grazie mille.

On my way to my car, I used some hand lotion, and when I was done, I reached for my pants' pocket for my ring. 

Wait, what? 

No pockets!

Sh**

Where did I put my ring?

I rummaged through my purse.

Nothing.

I had to go back to the pavilion. While walking, I tried to remember what "ring" in Italian was. Also I was looking for the word for "lost". Both didn't come to me. I settled for 

Excuse me, I have to go back in for a minute, I'm looking for something.

I expected to find the tissue with my ring on it on the sink, but it was empty.

Really?

The trash can... 

I had to reach into it...

Sure enough, there it was. A bunch of tissues. Luckily the ring was somewhat wrapped into one of the tissues, so it didn't fall out.

Phew! 

This wasn't the first time I temporarily lost my ring. One time I retreived it from the rubber thing in the frontloader washing machine. 

Have you had a similar experience?