My daughter and I were driving to school this morning, and she told me about the ring she was wearing. She told me it was from her Grandmother. Well, not really. It was from her mom, but she wanted it to be from her Grandmother “Nanny”, so she was pretending it was. My daughter is 15, so if she is pretending, it must be pretty important.
I told her she needed to come up with a story about the ring that would give it a special meaning. She thought for a moment then told a story of some small value, but brief and to the point. I explained to her that was unacceptable, as a story about something as valuable as a ring needed a special story.
So, she challenged me with “go”. Here is my story, right off the cuff:
Nanny’s husband was a wonderful man when they met, but after the marriage the weight of the world began to wear him down. In order to cope with this life of disappointment and lack of direction, he began to drink. In fact, he drank so much he became an alcoholic. He began to be more aggressive at home; in fact, he was somewhat verbally abusive. He would stay out late, and Nanny became despondent over the lack of any relationship with her husband. She longed for a conversation that didn’t focus on something she did wrong or neglected to do at all.
Her husband fell further and further down, until there was no relationship at all. Her Christian values provided her comfort and helped her commit to stay, but her reasons were so unselfish – to hopefully one day help him recover his character and follow his dreams.
One day, he was sitting in a bar, as he usually did, and a ring salesman sat down next to him. He asked what he was doing there, and her husband explained how this was the only place he felt at home anymore. The salesman asked if he was married. Yes, he replied. The salesman said he was too, and was very sad to be away from his wife for even the little while it took him to run his route each week. He asked Nanny’s husband to tell him about Nanny. Well, no one likes to tell about his wife as a failure, so he began to describe her as he once thought her to be. The more he talked, the more interesting the description became, and he felt something he hadn’t felt in a while. He missed her, and actually wanted to be with her more than being at the bar.
After a few more moments, a tear formed in his eye. The salesman asked if something was wrong. The husband replied that everything was wrong and he was the cause. He realized that he wanted her more than he wanted the beer. He then proceeded to confess to the salesman about his life of drinking and abuse. The salesman told him he didn’t think it was too late. Nanny’s husband stood up with the intention to leave and go straight home to her.
The ring salesman then told him not to go home empty handed, and opened his case to reveal a simple silver ring. He gave it to Nanny’s husband and told him to present it to her as a symbol of his commitment to a new life.
Turns out it was. From then on, life was different. And Nanny did not take this ring off till she was ready to leave to see him in heaven, at which point she presented it to my daughter, with a request that she remember it is never too late.
Thus the importance of the ring to my daughter.
It was fun to tell the story, but her response was sobering and saddening. She said that if I was growing up today I would just be normal, rather than having this streak of creativity. She said that the television, internet and cell phone had robbed her peers of the ability to tell stories and create from scratch.
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