"Autumn Leaves"
The Ring
It didn't cost a fortune, but it put him into debt.
It didn't have diamonds. Not even one small set.
It didn't have an engagement ring to sparkle with the light.
But she loved it just the same and wore it with delight.
It wasn't a large house; in fact it was quite small.
Sometimes it seems as if, it would never hold us all.
It had no fancy carpet and the floors were often cold,
but you would have thought he built it out of Gold.
They didn't take vacations, it simply wasn't done,
the summers were spent in the garden with work to be done.
They planted and they harvested to feed us everyone.
They didn't go to college or even finish school,
but they knew more about life then any Harvard fool.
They learned lessons the hard way, and never did give up,
although at times it seemed nothing would ever fill their cup.
For thirty-six years they made it, his hand and hers entwined,
till Jesus came for Daddy and said this child is mine.
She waited 18 years before she left us too,
she couldn't live without him, her love for him so true.
It didn't cost a fortune but put him into debt.
It doesn't have a diamond , not one small set, but I wear it proudly,
for the entire world to see, for twelve dollars worth of gold,
means the world to me.
Original poem by Kathalise Martin
Oct. 29th, 1995
My Mother and Father met when she was 14 and he was 18, in a small town in Louisiana
in the year of our Lord 1937. Her maternal Grandparents had raised my Mother who had
been orphaned at the age of six weeks. Bob and Elmie James. She was spoiled I am sure,
as her Mother was their baby. My Father had been orphaned when he was around 9 or 10,
his Mother passing away on Christmas Eve. He then set about to help raise his two younger
brothers Jack and Ted. My Father quit school in the 4th grade to help with the "BOYS" and
to help his Father. My Mother was in school when she met my Father. Back in those days, not
every one owned a car like today. And so it was very common for people to catch one of the
school buses and go as far as it went to get to the store for groceries. It was just such
an event that led them to each other.
It was a very cold and rainy morning and my Father was waiting for the bus to bring him into town to shop for his Father. My Mother was on that bus,
a silly spoiled, little girl of 14. My Father was 18 at the time. As the story goes they
courted and by that I mean that allowed him to stand outside the Church and hold her hand
through the window. Believe it, that is true. So this relationship built until her Grandfather
gave him permission to marry her. She was 15 and he was 19 on that cold Dec. 27th, 1939.
They started a life and had seven children to live and one stillborn. My Father had given my Mother
a $12.00 gold band when they married and it set him back a bit. She proudly wore the ring and
one day about 15 years after they married she was at a neighbors house helping to wash clothes
on an old rub board and tub. After doing several loads of laundry my Mother volunteered to throw
out the dirty water. She did this and went inside e the house to help with other chores. She
suddenly realized that her ring was missing. She was so upset, and cried, and said I have to
find it. They searched and searched for the ring, to no avail. Everyone was looking, she, her
neighbor, the kids, but the ring was gone. My Father offered to buy her a replacement and she
said no, she wanted that ring. Time flew by as it does when you have seven children and a lot
of work to do.
One afternoon about 13 years later her neighbor dropped by and said the strangest
thing had happened. One of her children had been digging in the back yard and found something
quite unusual. My Mother immediately screamed YOU FOUND MY RING! Yes, said the neighbor it
was true she had. She handed it to my Mother and the tears flowed. There was no doubt that the
ring was hers as it had grown to fit the shape of her finger which was slightly bent, as was
the ring. When my Father came home from work that night, she met him at the door, she looked
at him and smiled, she said " If I could have anything in the world I wanted, what would it be?"
He smiled and said, "YOU FOUND YOUR RING!" It was a simple twist of fate that led the young
man to be digging in the right spot all those years later.
This story is a wonderful one in out family. We think of it as a tiny bit of magic. When I was 14 and my Mom had to have surgery,
she left the ring in her Bible so I would have it if anything should happened to her. It
didn't thank God. But, in 1995 when Mama finally went to be with Daddy, she left it behind.
I wear it proudly and think of her and Daddy everytime I touch it or see it. That was the
best $12.00 he ever spent, and I am proud to have it on my hand as a reminder of a young man
and girl on a cold, rainy morning at a bus stop all those years ago.