All Sarah wanted was a ring, a simple gift. When she saw this one in the James Avery catalog, she knew she had to have it. It was designed like the rings from years ago with ancient symbols on it and an actual spinning top that flipped to reveal a secret message – one from John, the man she had loved since she was fifteen years old.
She hemmed and hawed for a week and finally came out and told him, “I want THIS ring,” she said and pointed to it on the screen of her phone. “And I want you to write something special for me.”
“Oh, ok,” he half-heartedly agreed. Even though his words freely flowed when writing, those songs weren’t about love but parodies about life in the school system. The teachers always got such a kick out of hearing them and remembered them long after they were sung at some party or another. But words just for her? Suddenly the words were hard to find.
When they finally made their way to the mall and managed to make it to James Avery, the store was crowded with holiday shoppers. The young man who waited on them, anxious to make a sale, encouraged them to pick out THE ring. After trying on several different sizes, Sarah finally said, “We’ll take it.”
“What do you want to engrave inside?” the young man asked sheepishly.
“Oh, he’ll tell you,” Sarah said pointing to John, “But I don’t want to know,” she answered quickly and stepped to the side.
The young man handed him a piece of paper, and John scribbled the message quickly.
“Oops,” the young man muttered after seeing the message, “Too many letters.”
“What?” she asked incredulously, “What was the message?”
John scratched his chin and looked into the eyes of his wife of forty-three years, “You are the music of my life.”
Quickly, before anyone had a chance to speak, she uttered, “Never mind, we don’t want the ring.”
“Wait,” the young man said suddenly.
“We can get the ring,” John tried to stop her.
She put her arm around him and hugged him tightly. “I don’t need the ring now; I have the message. That’s all I really wanted.”
Together, arm in arm, they left the store. No one even noticed the tears pouring from Sarah’s eyes or saw the words she’d hidden deep in her heart.
becky's getaway 
Lovely poignant story.
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This comes from the heart. Thank you for writing this.
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