I remember the day Josh excitedly picked out his class ring. He browsed Josten’s catalog pages through and through, over and over, getting ideas for exactly how he wanted his ring to look. He’d show me pictures and ask me questions of what I thought. I sat down next to him basking inside from seeing him so excited in custom designing his special class ring. I knew it was going to be a one-of-a-kind because that’s my extraordinary Joshua. I also knew it was gonna be expensive (lol) because he had superb taste! He filled out the paperwork and signed his famous signature to be put inside his custom made class ring.
He could hardly contain his excitement the day it came in. He was so proud of the custom ring he created all by himself; and everything on the ring was his personal story from school and who he was, his character. His birthstone diamonds were stunning with vibrant shine displaying his name on the top. I absolutely loved his ring too. He proudly wore his ring everywhere…and I mean everywhere! He rarely ever took it off.
I lost count real fast all the compliments he received on it. I’m not sure what took first place…people wanting to run their fingers through his hair when he was styling his beautiful head full of curls…or the beautiful custom ring he designed all by himself and everyone asking to see it. Either way, he was always standing out because of his charm and handsome looks. Everything about him was always #1 with me.
After losing Josh, I wore his ring everyday because I felt like I had a part of him always with me. It was a little scuffed from being worn so much, and it showed all the life he lived while wearing it everyday. His ring was the only piece of jewelry I wore. My heart would cry inside as I put it on, and I’d kiss it telling him I loved him as I took it off each night, keeping it in the safest of places.
I never ever took Josh’s ring off in public! I always washed my hands with his ring on so I wouldn’t misplace or lose it. I have no idea why I took it off the night of November 4th as were heading to go out to eat. For some reason I took it off to put some lotion on my hands and I laid it in my lap. I got sidetracked with Chloe and next thing I know we were pulling up in front of a store so I could run in and quickly get a toy for her. We were in a shopping center we never frequent. The toy we wanted to get her was only at this location. I quickly came back out and went to eat. As we were walking into the house that evening from eating out, I went to take the ring off and literally freaked out! I started hysterically crying and became so angry with myself feeling like I just let Josh down, not to mention feeling like I lost a huge piece of him all over again. I realized it probably fell out of my lap as I got out to go buy the toy.
We searched our vehicle and everywhere at home because that’s what you do when you’re in a panic to find something irreplaceable. After calling the restaurant and no one finding it, Mark and Jake went back to the parking lot where we got Chloe’s toy. They didn’t find it anywhere. And what does Josh’s precious princess do? She said, “Grandma, we need to pray for Jesus to help us find it”. And so we did.
The next morning, I filed a police report with the city even though they told me the chances of ever getting it back were slim to nothing. One of the sergeants was personally running an electronic search every single day that would show if someone was trying to pawn Josh’s ring anywhere in the state of Florida. We also made some flyers with a $100 reward and posted them in several places in the parking lot. I had lunch with a friend and we went to the parking lot of the toy store and we prayed. We even went to numerous pawn shops in the area with no luck in finding it.
I was so distraught from accidentally losing my precious baby boys custom made class ring. My heart felt like how in the world could I do this to Josh when he was so responsible in always keeping up with his ring. We went back up to the shopping center, only to find a lot of our flyers were torn down. None of the store managers had any good news of anyone turning it in.
I laid across Josh’s bed for three days crying my eyes out. I couldn’t eat and was so physically sick to my stomach. I felt like I lost a piece of him all over again when I lost his ring. I cried out in prayer to God telling Him I couldn’t handle not ever finding Josh’s ring and that my heart so needed and longed for having it back in my possession. Knowing the chances of ever finding it or seeing it again were next to nothing, I asked God to show me His faithfulness and asked Him to show me His miracles still do exist and with my name on one.
Eight days later on November 12th we went to get a bite to eat and as we were headed to the shopping center to put some more flyers up, I received a phone call from a beautiful Jamaican couple. The husband found the ring on the ground as he was walking into the same store I was in. He went home and tossed it on a table. His wife, whom went back to the store we got the toy from, just happened to catch a glimpse of Josh’s ring on one of the flyers. She went home and told her husband she thought they may have the ring she saw on a flyer. The husband told us it was bent pretty good and didn’t know if it was our ring, but he was willing to meet us at the shopping center to see if it was Josh’s class ring. We arrived before they did and I was nervously waiting for them to show up. They pulled up right beside us. Mark and I got out and as I saw the husband hand Mark the ring, I caught a glimpse of it and bent over crying because it was my Joshua’s. My husband handed him $100 and he said “No, I can’t accept this. I want you to use the money to get it fixed”. Mark said, “Please…I want you to take this because you have no idea what you’ve just done for us, especially my wife”. And the husband said, “No, I can’t take it. Please use the money to get your sons ring fixed because I would’ve loved for someone to have returned my class ring to me that I lost years ago”.
We hugged him tightly and gave both him and his wife the biggest thank you our hearts possibly could.
I so needed God to show me His miracles still do exist and that He had a special one with just my name on it. God’s faithfulness truly is amazing!
The story doesn’t quite end there. Josten’s donated a brand new duplicate class ring to me so I could put Joshua’s original ring in a very safe place. It’s not the same wearing the new ring. but my heart is forever and eternally grateful for the new one I always wear; and all the love and generosity I was shown by a most faithful God who knew I needed to see that miracles still do exist.