This ring belonged to my mother and to her mother before that. After she died, it seemed to be missing. A few people in our family looked for it, without luck. When I finally found it, I realized it had been under our noses, in her jewelry box, all along. In a sense, it felt like it was waiting for me. At first I wouldn't dare wear it, for fear of losing it. Then one day, in a conversation with one of my mom's cousins, she showed me her hands and told me she was wearing all of her mother's rings. "What if you lose them?" I asked her. "Oh, I would never lose them!" she answered. It was at that moment that I decided I would never lose this one either. I've now been wearing it every day for 15 years.