A Walk To Remember
40 years ago, the English couple Paula and Joe got married after just two years of dating. She and Joe have met in college but never really hit it off right away. Years later they saw each other again when their friends brought them along for a double date. They never thought that moment would lead them to seal vows after two years.
It was like a scene from “When Harry met Sally”. Their friends never did become a couple for long. It was Paula and Joe who hit it off after that date. They realized they had a lot in common as Joe walked Paula home the night of the date forty years ago. Paula never thought this was going to happen next.
He’s The One!
Paula had always dreamed of meeting her own prince charming. She’s never been to dates much but her friend kept insisting she come on her date as her date wanted to bring a gentleman along. She agreed under one condition, that she would never be brought with her to another date ever again. It was love at first sight!
There they were at the night of the date. They walked to their tables and suddenly the date’s friend looks at her. He had such gentle eyes that their eyes locked for a brief moment. That moment was when she knew that he was the one, or at least if he asked her to.
A fairy tale marriage
Joe never wasted any time. He called her every day for two weeks after they met. Paula wanted to play hard to get but Joe wasn’t making it easy for her.
After a month, they saw each other again and that was it. Two years later they got married. It was the happiest day of their life. She never thought it would end but little did she know that life had a surprise in store for her.
Nothing lasts forever
Paula and Joe had one son, Jack. They loved playing catch in their garden outside of their home in Plymouth, Devon. The garden was Joe’s gift to her on their fifth wedding anniversary. She had on her 18-carat gold band wherever she would go.
She never realized though that day that it would be gone from her hand. She kept looking and looking but to her dismay it had disappeared from her sight. How was she going to tell Joe she'd lost his grandmother's ring?
Confused
Paula and Joe never kept secrets from each other. They always shared everything between them, but that night, Joe was acting strange. He’d gone to his room quietly after supper and sat on his chair to read. She had told him about her lost ring and he looked at her with a confused look. He said, “maybe it’s just under your nose.”
Paula thought that was unusual for Joe to react that way. It was his family heirloom. She knew that it meant more to Joe than it did to her so she suspected the reason to be something else. Little did they knew it, things were about to change in their marriage.
The shock
Joe had always wanted to give Paula an 18-carat gold band on their wedding day. It was his grandmother’s and he vowed to himself that if he would ever find his bride, he would give it to her on their wedding day.
No one could imagine the shock he felt when Paula told him she lost it that night. He wasn’t really someone who’s good with facial expressions and all he said to her that night was, “maybe, it’s just under your nose.” He had to hide his real emotions because if she’d ever find out, she would leave him.
He’s behind it!
Joe thought Paula was careless for losing an 18-carat gold band he inherited from his grandmother. The first five years of their life was bliss, and the small garden was his gift to his wife as a symbol of his love. Paula has played with their son every day in that garden ever since and at times he would feel jealous.
He felt that Paula never had time for him anymore, but he loved her truly despite her not spending more time with him. He missed her and sometimes was too tired to talk to her after supper as she would be too tired after a day of playing with their son. He would always stay quiet because he feared that Paula would love him less if he told her how he truly felt. At times he felt distant and so he'd be by himself while Paula spent more time with their son.
Was it someone else?
Joe is a handsome man. He could always enchant someone with his brown eyes. Paula thought how lucky she was that he chose her as his wife. But she still couldn’t help think how many women he’d met in his work as a car salesman.
At the back of her mind, she thought he probably would see female clients after they buy cars from him. Maybe he had a mistress she didn’t know of. She felt that there was something odd regarding his behavior and the lost ring. And she was about to find out soon...
A bond forever
A wedding ring is forever. It’s a symbol of love and fidelity. Not having the ring on her finger has made Paula feel naked and that some part of the love and fidelity has disappeared.
She searched everywhere and never ever found that ring. Even after forty years they never talked about it, but it has always loomed on Paula’s mind. She was devastated! She couldn't help but think that Joe had something to do with it.
He was in on it all along!
Even with her relentless hunt, there was still no sign of her wedding band. Paula was heartbroken that she lost her beautiful 18-carat gold band. She had always wanted to flash it around town to her friends and family but didn’t have it long enough.
She was finally sure that Joe had something to do with it. At the back of her mind, she kept thinking that he took it from her to give to somebody else. Could he have hidden it from her all along? But why???
A marriage on the rocks
Paula and Joe had an ideal wedding, she remembered it like it was yesterday. They never fought once in their 40 years of marriage. Joe had a way of handling disagreements and it was always to stay quiet. She never understood how he really felt about things because he was this way.
She knew there was a reason she lost her ring and felt that it could be with somebody else now. Paula started suspecting that Joe must have slipped in on her when she was taking a shower and took the ring. Could he have just given it to someone else?
Lost forever
For forty years, Paula never had the luck of finding her beloved ring. Her hand felt naked. She had worn it like a glove but always thought she should have resized it as it gets loose on a hot day, kind of like the day she and her son were playing outside in the garden. That summer day was particularly hot.
That week, Paula never gave up. she bought a metal detector and started searching in their garden. Alas, she still found nothing. Her suspicions grew even more.
Broken-hearted
As years went by, Paula still had her wedding ring in the back of her mind. Paula recalls how she never wanted to give up the search saying, “My house backs onto woodland and I thought possibly that the ring flew in there. I thought it was gone forever. Over the years—whenever we’ve been in the garden or out there—I’ve always said ‘have a look for the ring,’ but we never found it.”
She’s been broken-hearted for forty years and she always thought of finding where the ring could have been all those years would give her peace.
Where did it go?
40 years later, Paula and Joe were about to celebrate their wedding anniversary. Still, Paula would still long for her missing ring. She’s never talked about it aloud but she was still looking for it whenever no one was home. Now was her chance!
They hired a local landscaping company, 'Man For All Seasons', to come clean up their garden just a few days before their 40th wedding anniversary. Even though the garden had been dug up plenty of times in the past, Paula still felt she had to tell the landscapers all about her missing ring. So, the landscaping crew kept that in mind and went to work and this is what they found.
Somewhere out there
The garden crew kept in mind Paula’s reminder about a lost ring. They were almost done with revamp work and were starting to pack up when something shiny caught one of the crew’s eyes as he was about to finish patching some plants in the garden.
This man finally digs out the shiny thing and what happened next was history. It appeared to be a piece of shiny metal that looked very familiar.
Did they find it?
After a week there was still no luck… Until just last month Paula got the surprise of a lifetime. It was a long day and the crew was already about to finish up work in the yard.
That’s when Paula got called out to the garden for a very shocking discovery… A piece of metal that looked a lot like what she lost forty years ago. Could it be what she thought it was?
Not just a ring
To an English woman such as Paula Walter, one of the most important pieces of jewelry she could ever own is her wedding ring.
The reason that precious band never left her mind even after 40 years is that they were destined to be reunited sometime in the future. She was right! How could you ever forget something that near and dear to your heart?
Busted!
“They called me out into the garden a while later saying they had a surprise for me and then handed me my wedding ring, it was in the garden where I was standing and where I had been playing ball with my son all those years ago. I was so shocked but incredibly grateful. It’s wonderful to have it back.” Paula exclaimed.
It was there all along and she finally had to tell Joe that it was her fault it got lost. She had to muster the courage to tell Joe where they found it.
He changed!
Joe had been quiet about the ring for all those years. He never raised his voice to Paula for ever losing his grandmother’s ring. He vowed he would love her forever and he meant it.
A piece of metal would not come between their love and he was about to prove it. That night Paula came to him with tears in her eyes. She said she wanted to tell him something important. He had to tell her something too.
Not the same husband
That afternoon, Paula finally exclaimed, “They found the ring!” Joe was relieved and saw how happy she was. They had a tight embrace as she was sobbing and apologizing losing the ring right under her nose, just as he said forty years later the day she lost the ring.
Finally, Paula was free from the guilt. Joe just kissed her forehead and said, “I never blamed you for losing my grandmother’s ring. I love you more than that ring.” With that, Paula realized he wasn’t the same man she married forty years ago, he had changed, he loved her more than ever.
An overdue apology
Paula knew that Joe has become a more loving and patient man in all those forty years they’ve been together. He never made her regret her decision to marry him. Still she had to apologize to Joe for suspecting that he had another woman and had given her ring to his mistress.
It was one of those things that married women think of whenever their husbands would never say a word. She was so sorry it ever crossed her mind.
Heartbroken
Joe was shocked. He never thought that Paula would ever think of him that way, still he got over it. In all their forty years, they had been happy with their married life with their son Jack.
Marriage is about two people committed to forgiving each other over and over again and he was determined to do just that.
No more secrets!
Joe thought it was unusual for Paula to have looked for the ring inside their house. She did say that they were playing catch in the garden the whole day and he had the suspicion that it had fallen off from her finger while she was throwing the ball.
Joe never got mad. It could have been a simple accident. It could just have been meant to be. A ring is just a ring. What matters is that they love each other with or without a ring.
Gone too soon
The garden crew had left right after they found the ring. Paula never got the chance to invite them for their big wedding anniversary. She felt that the crew deserved to be there since they had just given her the best give she could ever wish for.
The guys from Man For All Seasons were just happy that they did more than just revamp an old woman’s garden. They had returned to her, her most valuable piece of jewelry.
Found at last!
Paula now 65-years-old, could finally celebrate her 40th wedding anniversary with her husband Joe who’s now 73-years-old. She never lost hope in finding her cherished wedding ring and thankfully she told the landscapers to keep an eye out.
After 40 years Paula finally gets to wear her wedding ring again. Now, that’s what you call the greatest anniversary gift of all time!