Gift

 This month, gifts and gift-giving can seem inescapable. What's the most memorable gift, tangible or emotional, you received this year?
 

While I’ve had several great gifts this December (a leaf shredder and a worm farm stand out as ones I really, really loved), the most memorable gift was my ring.  When Kathy and I were first together we’d gone to Santa Fe for a conference. While we were there we’d gone to the square and bought matching $25 turquoise and silver rings.  We’d each worn them ever since.  When we got our wedding rings (also silver and turquoise) we tried to wear them instead but they weren’t very comfortable and so we went back to the $25 rings.  This fall, I looked down one evening and noticed that the stone had fallen out of my ring.  It upset me a lot.  I began to wear my wedding ring instead, but I really missed having the other ring. The day before my birthday, Kathy and I went out for dinner.  At the end of the meal, Kathy gave me my ring back with a new turquoise stone in it in place of the one that had fallen out—best gift I could have been given!