Odd situation: what to think?

[cmo]

About 6 weeks ago, DH "lost" his wedding ring. We were at the kitchen table and he would spin it for DD to make her laugh. Well, this one time she picked it up and wandered off, and we never saw it again! It was a plain white gold ring, not expensive, more sentimental value than anything else since it was engraved on the inside. It was very frustrating because we knew it was somewhere on the first floor of our house, but we couldn't find that darn thing to save our lives! We took every cushion off every piece of furniture, shone flashlights down the vents, looked in/behind all the toys and knick-knacks, but no luck. (I did find some long-lost puzzle pieces, though. :-)) We even checked both DD and DS's diapers for the next few days, if you know what I mean! Oh well, we had another ring that could do the job and just forgot about it.

This morning, in a search for a small missing toy piece, I pulled up the couch cushions and there was the ring, under a seat cushion where the back of the couch meets the seat part. I was so glad to see it, but at the same time I asked myself, Huh? How could we have missed it? We truly took up all the cushions, twice at least. The only not-far-out explanation I can come up with is this: a few days after the ring was lost, the folks that clean our house every other week came in. (It is 2 regular people, plus a 3rd person who changes every few weeks or months. They have been cleaning for us for about 4 years and do a good job.) I kind of thought of their visit as the last hope of finding the ring, as it had been a week since it had been lost. I don't think I mentioned it to them. I'm wondering if one of them found it, took it with them, and then changed their mind and brought it back, 'planting' it in the couch. I hate that I am thinking such a thing about these folks, since I know and like them, but I can't think of any other reasonable explanation.

Is there something I haven't thought of? Please help me think of a reason to believe the ring was here all along!

Thanks,
Chris

[aliceinwonderland]

My intuition is that the ring was in the folds of the couch somewhere, and from all the searching and shifting, it fell into the place where you found it.

From your description, it sounds like a rather non-descript ring (and, men's wedding rings are not that expensive-looking compared to our diamond ones!), and if you've had these people for 4 yrs and they wanted to steal from you, surely you had more impressive jewlery laying around...I can be pretty paranoid, but I also like to give people the benefit of the doubt...

Just my opinion.
e.

[kristenk]

I agree! I think it could easily have shifted position somehow. There's really no way of knowing where the ring was. Also, your kiddos could have re-found it and then it ended up behind the cushion.

I really doubt it was the cleaning crew, though, especially if you've never had any problems.

[loewymartin]

I agree with the PP - my dad "lost" his wedding band many years ago. My folks searched all over and could never find it. About 3 years later it was sitting on the floor! It had apparently gotten caught up in the inner workings of my father's recliner and had finally made it's way out and rolled to a location about 18" from the recliner to the middle of the floor. Very odd indeed! But, it does happen.

And, at around the same time my mom lost the stone in her engagement ring (yes, my mom thought they were doomed!) A few months later my mom was packing for a trip and ran her hand around the inner pocket of the suitcase for some strange reason. Lo and behold there was the diamond...it had fallen out and was sitting in the pocket.

Michelle
Mom to Alia born 5/16/02 and the GIRL! peanut due 8/13/05

[chlobo]

I think your dd hid it somewhere you didn't look and then on some other occassion she took it out and dropped it on the couch.

I know my DD has walked off wit stuff and we couldn't find it only to have her "show up" with it at a later date.

[DebbieJ]

Sometimes when we're searching for stuff we later find it right under our noses. Like how the sunglasses I'm frantically looking for are usually on top of my head. :)

I'd give the cleaning crew the benefit of the doubt.

~ deb
DS 12/03
And a niece or nephew arriving in early August!

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/10029.gif

[kransden]

I vote for the kiddos. I think the cleaning crew would have put it in a place easier to find.

Karin and Katie 10/24/02

[pritchettzoo]

The cleaning crew sounds like a far-out explanation to me.

Have you never searched and searched for something just to have it turn up right where you looked a thousand times before? Happens to me all the time. Especially something you really want to find.

Anna
Mama to Gracie (Sept '03)
and a BOY! (coming July '05)

[Mommy_Again]

we had a similar thing happen, but in our case DS ran off with DH's sunglasses. We tore the house apart. A few days after he bought new ray bans, we found the old glasses in the folds of the sofa. So if it can happen with big ole men's sunglasses, it could easily happen with a ring.

[starrynight]

I wouldn't peg the cleaning crew at all. My guess is one of the above mentioned senarios. Either one of the kidlets found it and just rehid it there in the couch or it was stuck in a fold so all the sitting and moving of the cushions finally knocked it down out of the folds to where you found it.

Often I can't find something, even in places I have looked 2-3 times and then suddenly it's there after I gave up. I think when we are so frantic to find something our eyes play tricks on us and we can't see it!

[cmo]

Thank you all for your responses. It has helped me get a little perspective on things. I really doubt the cleaning crew had anything to do with it; I think the only reason that even popped into my head was the ever-changing 3rd person on the crew. I was still swept up in the perplexing part of the situation when I typed my first post. I am one of those logical types, so I like everything to make *sense* and to have an explanation. Sometimes it just doesn't, and I need to learn that I can't always have the solid answers I seek! :)

[wendmatt]

Dobbie the house Elf! (Harry Potters new book is out soon!) I have one here, things disappear and turn up in the place I was looking in.

[LD92599]

Glad you located it of course! It always seems that when you stop looking for something - it turns up when and where you least expect it.

Laura
mom to William

LKibala at optonline dot net

http://lilypie.com/pic/050530/616a731.jpg[/img][img]http://lilypie.com/baby3/030305/1/2/0/-5/.png

[hez]

Just wanted to let you know you're not the only one to have something not seem logical when it comes to wedding bands. My first engagement ring disappeared the summer of 2000. I set it down pretty hard on a counter (I was a little tipsy!) and it bounced off, never to be seen again. We found one of my plain gold bands in a floor vent (I managed to catch the other before it bounced too far).

I finally put in a claim that December after drilling holes in cabinets and walls and the whole nine. I've now had this copy of the ring (I wanted EXACTLY the same thing!) for longer than my original. I've given up on the original. Maybe the dog ate it?!

[kellyotn]

Adding one more vote to the "lost in the folds of the couch" theory. It likely just worked its way out. Second most likely is the kiddos re-found it and put it there.

Men's wedding bands aren't something I'd think anyone would want!! Little monetary value as far as jewelry goes, and a man isn't gonna wear it "just because", KWIM? ;-)

My DD lost the horse to her Little People barn a year or more ago. I looked down the vent (near the toybox) at LEAST a dozen times. It just seemed the most likely place, and it just bugged me to have a missing piece. Finally, last week, something possessed me to look YET AGAIN. I guess I was at the right angle this time, or it'd shifted - but there it was!