The ocean giveth... and taketh away.

Well, we are back in chilly NJ after a wonderful last minute vacation in Miami Beach. I could go on about how romantic this trip was, but most of that is stored in a memory file that for many readers would probably be TMI. But the last day could have been a real bummer if I let it so I'll just talk about that.

We woke early to have a last day at the beach and I realized that the sinus annoyance of the previous days had turned into a full blown bronchitis. Although the sun briefly appeared as a red blood shot eye in a hangover of gray clouds, we decided to soldier on to the beach with our books anyway. Being we were the only two beach goers on the rainy cool morning, we got the coveted front-row beach chairs and umbrella set-up and decided to read. The ocean was rougher than our previous four days and there were some tell-tale signs of trash washing up in choppy foam. I was happy to find this little souvenir of a blue wooden ball that had washed up in front of me. Against my better judgement I decided to take a last swim in the ocean, as Gerry said it was still nice and warm. I got up from my comfy read, and took a diving leap into the waves only to feel my engagement and my wedding ring slip off my left hand. Frantically I dove under in the churning water and blindly scooped around the sand only to come up with an old discarded toothbrush. EWWW!

Gerry wasn't very optimistic when he said that I'd never find them, but when he saw my disappointment he continued to look for the rings in the wave crash point. I sat pouting on the beach chair and demanded that my rings be spit back to me... as if.

Then it dawned on me that I did tell people that we were giving away all of our worldly possessions and although it took ten years for Gerry to save up for my eternity ring, it is after all only a possession. I bit my lip, held back tears and just sighed... oh well, at least I got a souvenir: a small blue wooden ball that says I've got the whole world in my hands....

Today we went and bought a new wedding band for me. It's pretty and shiny and matches Gerry's ring, but most importantly, when I asked him if he would marry me all over again, there was no hesitation as he answered yes, of course!

As for the diamonds... well, I was never that sort of girl anyway. Good riddance.

PS If you want to see some of the pictures they can be seen here:
Miami Beach (our Internet connection is extremely slow here so these are all I could muster up for now).

-Wendy