Mini Heart attack!

This morning began like any other day at work. I started working on some AM (morning delivery) orders... and then began working my way through designing some arrangements to display in the cooler. I made some really beautiful $100 arrangements like the one below:

Carol, the manager at my work, asked if I would design some amazing and unusual arrangements for the cooler since our big re-opening is tomorrow. I agreed to started working on them as soon as I finished my orders for that day.

I worked diligently, seeing as how I was only going to be working until noon. I was just about finished with my last arrangement for the cooler when a lady bought one of the ones I had already done earlier that morning. She was so pleased and it made me really happy. After receiving the great praise, I was satisfied with the final arrangement I was working on and placed it in the cooler. I told all the other ladies I work with I'd see them all tomorrow.

I was at a stop light and decided I'd call Tyler to let him know I was on my way home. It was shortly after I hung up my phone that I reached over to the passenger seat to grab my jacket to put my wedding rings back on. -- I don't wear them for work because my hands get pretty dirty and I don't want to gum up my pretty wedding ring.-- I was careful to keep my eyes on the road and pulled over the jacket, putting my hand inside the pocket where I zipped them up for safety. I felt around inside the pocket and slowly realized it was empty. CRAP! was my immediate thought, I've lost them. Now just to fill you in on the reality of my situation, the floors at my work are gravel, and it's nearly IMPOSSIBLE to find a small white gold wedding ring in gravel. I KNOW, because two summer's ago when I worked at the same place lost my wedding ring. Luckily two years ago I got lucky and someone happened to see them while we were searching. This time I knew I wouldn't be so lucky. So now that you understand I was looking for a needle in a haystack, I'll continue...

I calmly called my work and asked someone to look at my station to see if they could find/ see my wedding rings. They put me on hold and then got back online to say they didn't. At that moment I felt my heart sink. I pulled the car off on a side road, at which point I was half way home. I thanked the lady and told her I'd come back to look for them some more. When I hung up I called Tyler back to tell him I had to go back to work because I couldn't find my rings. He told me good luck and was reassuring that they would turn up. I on the other hand, was not feeling an certainty of peace. I quickly and quietly said a prayer that I'd find my rings. I normally would feel stupid about praying to find something material, but my wedding rings are so much more special to me because of what they represent- our commitment to each other for eternity.

On the drive back to work I turned off the radio and drove in silence, hoping to feel some inner reassurance that things would be okay. I can't honestly say that I felt anything... at least not right away. When I got to work I explained to everyone there what my rings looked like and even gave a description of them to the retail ladies IN CASE someone turned them in. This is what the scribbled description looked like:

Three separate bands, the odds of finding all of them were less than likely, but on the other hand the odds of finding one was better. Although I thought the chances of someone finding them would be slim, I hoped that if someone had that they would have the morals to turn them in to lost and found. Nonetheless, I searched... for an hour, turning over every piece of gravel, retracing my steps, digging into buckets of flowers in hopes that maybe they josseled loose out of jacket while I was working, I even wrote down all the numbers of people's arrangements I did in case they fell into a bouquet that was delivered. I was relentless in my search for my precious rings and despite having the outward calm and optimistic appearance, I was a wreck on the inside. I could feel my hopes sinking lower and lower towards despair. I thought: 'This is it, they're gone. I will never see them again. There's a couple thousand dollars... gone.' I walked to my car and sat in the drivers seat and called Tyler. He answered and I was all but in tears when he said 'hello'. I told him I couldn't find them and I looked everywhere. I said, They're lost! I felt so horrible and do you know what my husband said in reply? "Kati, it's okay. It's just a ring. You're still married to me. I love you. This made me feel slightly relieved, but still horrible that I lost them. I agreed with him over the phone that I'd come home and we could go back together to look so more before giving up completely.

I bawled on the way home and tried to take lots of deep breaths as to not get into a car accident. When I walked through the door Tyler hugged me and told me how much he loved me and that it was really okay. That just made me cry harder and them eventually I calmed down again. After Tyler and Quincy finished getting dressed we got into the car and drove back to work again. While we were in the car I choked back tears and Tyler squeezed my hand for comfort. He told me not to give up that we might find them. I replied, "Well I think we need a miracle." We arrived and I retraced my steps with Tyler and he remained quiet and calm as we searched. I even showed him inside my jacket pocket where I put them feeling inside the lining and looking again, for the 5th time. I was searching through a large arrangement in the cooler when Tyler said, "Kati." I looked up in hopes that he might have good news. He was reaching his hand in my jacket pocket and had a slight smile on his face. He had found them. They were underneath the zipper.

Now, I know that some of you reading are thinking, DUH, you couldn't find them right there in your pocket, but NO. They WEREN'T in there. I swear. Tyler's a little notorious for not being able to find things right in front of his face, but not me. Plus I searched those pockets thoroughly before going back to work, and then again when I got back in front of Carol. I guess I can never really say for certainty, but I believe that Heavenly Father heard and answered my prayers for a small miracle. I know that he looks out for me and loves me so much he gave me my rings back. :)


What I learned today is that I will NEVER wear my wedding ring to work again.