The Ring (a short story)

She said, "What a beautiful ring, where did you get it"? and a lump formed in my throat.

"It is a very long story, are you sure you want to hear it? And I will probably cry as I tell it", I said, as I choked on that lump.

"Yes", She said, "I can see by the look on your face, that it must be a very painful story for you to tell, but I would truly like to hear it", so tell the story I did.

This was my fathers wedding gift from my mother many years ago, and he loved it so. You would never see it off of his finger.

Then there was the accident, it was about twenty years ago. He was at work when it happened. The crew he was working with, was working on some pipes suspended overhead on large wooden poles. One of the poles was old and rotten and as he passed under it, it snapped and the pipe and the top half of the pole came crashing down from thirty feet above onto the top of his head.

It crushed his hard hat along with his skull. It broke his collarbone along with his neck and his nose. He was laying in a pool of his own life's blood that was gushing out from his every wound. When the paramedics arrived, there was no great sense of urgency, because they were sure that he was not going to make it because his injuries were so severe. He was not even breathing, but still they tried to do the best that they could to bring him back to life and get him to the hospital.

When he arrived at the hospital there was nothing they could do for him but put him on a breathing machine, so they sent him to a hospital across the river that specialized in his type of injuries.

The Doctors said he would not make it through the night so we prepared for the worst. But he did make it, and sometimes we wondered if it would have been better if he did not.

A year in the intensive care unit and he finally got off of the respirator. He was paralyzed from his chest down, and he had to learn how to breathe without the use of his diaphragm.

He was in constant pain that lasted for a time without end. He said that he wished they would have just let him die on that fate filled day. His life, in his eyes, now had no meaning but pain and suffering.

His brain as well as his sight had been damaged. He could see nothing but a blur, and all in double vision.

So after ten years of pain and suffering and the in and out of the hospitals in three month rotations, he just wanted it to end. He was ready to throw in the towel.

He one day told me that he wanted me to take all of his rings and pick one for myself, and give the rest of them to my brothers. He said he would never again wear them. He didn't want them to go to waste just sitting in his jewelry box where they had been for all those years.

So that is where I got this ring. It was the most special of all. The wedding gift from my mother to he. I had a hard time taking and wearing it, but he did insist, so wear it I did. Mom had passed away but a year before. I was so very honored to wear the ring for what is was a symbol of, once I got past my hesitancy to take it from him, because it was also , as I saw it, a symbolic way of him giving up on life.

It seemed like we were always visiting him in that hospital. He was there more than at home. He would never seem happy to see his visitors, but still we came like clockwork. It was like his mind was always a million miles away. Every time he came home, he would last a few months until there came another panic attack and the accompanying chest pains and a trip back to the hospital.

It wasn't long after he gave us the rings that he had one of his attacks,and he was hospital bound once more. In and out and in and out over and over again and again. It was a veterans hospital in the paraplegic ward that he would always go to.

The Doctors over the years saw this endless cycle of his in and outs and had a meeting to discuss his case and they came to a consensus. They decided not to fight it any longer. They told him that they wanted to make him a permanent resident of the hospital. This hospital was the only place where he felt safe, for he knew if anything went wrong, they knew just what to do. It was like a giant weight had been lifted off of his chest. His whole attitude toward his life instantly changed and he finally saw reasons to live.

When we visited him, he was now so glad to see us and he would talk our ears off. He would tell us about pottery that he was making for Christmas presents for everyone and bingo games that he was finally going to. He never would go before. He didn't even ever want to get out of bed. But that had all changed now.

He asked me if I could buy him a watch with really big numbers, so he could see them to tell the time, and I said sure, so I found one for him. Before he had no interest in knowing the time and I thought it was great that he turned around like this.

When I gave him the watch that I bought him, he held it up to his best eye, about an inch away, while he closed the other and said, "does that say 3:15"? And I said, "It sure does". He said, "this is great son. How often should I wind it"? And I said, "You don't have to wind it Dad, it runs on a battery". So he asked me if I got him any extra batteries. I told him that the battery would last for years, and he was amazed. I said to myself that the battery might even out last him. Little did I know that it would be so true.

One day when he was on a hospital "day out" field trip to a mall, he drove his electric wheel chair right off of a single step and landed on his head, with all the weight of his chair on the top of him. It had happened was only a month after his life, he had regained, along with his will to live. He died from the head injury the next day.

I think it was so sad that once he was finally able to enjoy and love life again, it was all taken away, but then I think at least his last month was a happy one. We never know when our time might end and this helps me to remember to try to live my life to the fullest, as though it may be my last day, for we never know.

So here I have this ring, and this watch and a heart full of tears for the story of our lives and the way they did go, and the funny thing is, that his watch ran two years after he did pass. I had always wondered when it would stop and a few times it did stop and I thought to myself, "Dad, can you believe it, it's finally time for a new battery", but then I would realize that the stem was accidentally pulled out and once pushed in the watch would run again.

I finally quit wearing the watch because the stem wore out and it was always catching on something and then time would stand still, so I can't really say just how long the battery would have gone on.

Such an eerie story for me to tell, and every time someone asks me, "What a beautiful ring, where did you get it"? a tear comes to my eye, and the "It's a very long story, are you sure you want to hear it"? follows. So, here's to you Dad, I love you and you live on always in my heart.