(((this was so exciting!)))

Last week, I took Grace along with me to a second hand furniture shop.  I was looking for a dresser for Caleb because his had broken and we had to throw it away.  All of his clothes were now located in the toy box and/or all over the place and it was driving me crazy.

We traveled the back roads, which was fun, and we even stopped at a little boy’s lemonade stand.  Grace hopped out to make the transaction with him and got back in the car after spending 2 dollars on big red cups of warm watery lemonade and brownies that were as square and dry as chocolate hay bales.  But we enjoyed every bite because the little boy reminded us of our Seth and he was sitting so still at his stand waiting hopefully for sales.

We arrived at the furniture store and didn’t make out very well as far as dresser shopping goes.  It had only taken minutes to admit defeat, and because we hadn’t ever been in this particular town plaza we decided to check out the other shops, too, since we were there anyway. I mean, it would have been a waste of gas not to do more shopping, right?   Conveniently, right next door was a upscale consignment shop full of all the things girls like; clothes, bags, more and more clothes, and to a lesser degree, knick knacks and accessories.  Grace found a couple of very cute dresses and I found a shirt.  (Okay, two shirts.)

We paid for our selections but as we went out the door the security alarm went off.  We went back to the counter so the saleswoman could go through our bag to see if there were any sensors left behind in our items.  As she worked, I just so happened to look down through the glass counter into the jewelry case and saw that they had some Tiffany jewelry.

Ten years ago, Rich gave me a Tiffany ring for Christmas.  I still have the photos that he took of me opening the blue box wrapped in red ribbon, with a sweet yummy baby Caleb sitting on my lap.  The ring was my first experience with Tiffany and it was a heavy, gold “Loving Hearts” ring, very lovely.

I had it on my finger the day Grace and I were together.

As I studied the Tiffany pieces the shop had, I noticed they had a SILVER Loving Hearts ring, exactly like mine!

I immediately knew…..that ring was for my dearest friend and daughter, Grace Lillian.  I asked if we could see it.  The lady handed it to me, and I handed it to Grace.  “See if it fits your finger, this one, the same finger I’m wearing mine on!”

She obediently put it on, and it fit!  Thanks to that false alarm (there were no sensors on our clothes) we ended up with a sweet surprise, a ring to match her Mama’s, for Grace.  And it was from a second hand shop, marked at a very nice price, plus an extra 20 percent off!!

We walked over to our next stop (ice cream!) looking at our hands, all smiles.

Well, the ring was previously owned and admittedly, quite grimy with a few scratches.  But no worries, because on Sunday afternoons Rich gets a craving for Pinkberry and the only Pinkberry around is about half an hour away, in a fancy-type mall which includes a Tiffany jewelry store, with guards at the door.  So on Sunday, Grace and I nervously went in past the guards and asked if we could have our rings cleaned.  The ladies cheerfully directed us to the back where customer service was located and the woman there told us that my ring could be done within minutes, but because Grace’s was silver it had to be left there for 48 hours. We reluctantly left the ring with them.  Forty eight hours indeed passed very quickly and yesterday we drove back to pick it up.

It was like new!!!!  I couldn’t believe my eyes, the ring was so sparkly and shiny, just as silvery as could be.   And, come to find out, jewelry cleaning was a free service that they provide for their customers!  We left a dirty ring and were given back a sparkly one in return.

We skipped out the door and naturally took a hand-selfie right there in the mall!

It was all rather like a fairy tale of some sort!

PS, Caleb ended up with a very nice dresser–from Goodwill!  In fact, his siblings are all jealous!  Rich is very happy that he married such a bargain hunter.

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It has 9 drawers and a square cupboard in the middle for his treasures.