My naked finger..........

Mrs. Lime probably likes it this way, but I feel totally naked when I don't have my wedding ring on. I have to take it off for basketball games on Sunday nights. Since then, I haven't got around to putting it back on. As a result, I have various random moments where I panic thinking I've lost my wedding ring, only to realize that I just haven't put it back on yet. Most of this feeling likely has to do with the incidents on our honeymoon back in 2000. Prepare for another family secret revealed.

Mrs. Lime and I went to Tahiti for our honeymoon. We actually stayed on two separate islands. The first island we visited was Bora Bora. We stayed at the island for around 4 days in a small bungalow. The bungalow was actually built on poles over the water. As a result, we could literally jump into the ocean off our deck and go snorkeling.

I took off my ring on the last day we were at Bora Bora to do some snorkeling and set it on the table next to the bed. The next day, we jumped on a commuter plane to go to Moorea, which was a short flight away. Halfway through the flight, I flipped out. I realized that I had left my ring on the table next to the bed. Uh-oh. Were the marriage gods trying to give me a sign or was I just absent-minded?

We got to Moorea and the next hotel. We immediately called the hotel at Bora Bora and were relieved to find out that my ring was found by the staff. Even better, they had someone that was coming over to Moorea later in the day, so they would send the ring on the plane with that person. Wonderful! Later that day, I got my ring back and I was 'married' again.

The next day, we went to another hotel to go swimming with the dolphins. Mrs. Lime and I went down to the dock to make sure everything was in order. As Mrs. Lime was setting things up, I was standing behind her, sliding my ring up and down on my finger. As luck would have it, the ring slid out of my grasp. It fell right into the crack between the boards on the deck. Good Lord, not again! I actually could see the ring and thought I could get it back out. As I used a couple of sticks to try to ease it out, it actually moved to the side and fell even deeper into the deck. I was REALLY upset! Losing a wedding ring twice in one honeymoon can NEVER be good.

We called in some staff members and pointed to the area where the ring fell into the deck. We had to go to our dolphin lessons. As we were leaving, staff members were literally pulling the deck apart, board by board. The dolphin lesson was about to start when a staff member showed up and he had my ring! Mrs. Lime folded up some multi-colored francs and gave them to the man as a tip. As the man headed off, he unfolded the francs and realized that Mrs. Lime had given him a pretty substantial tip for his trouble. He stopped his cart, turned to us and yelled "Thank you!" from a good distance. Mrs. Lime had made his day, thanks to my wedding ring that refused to stay on my finger.

Mrs. Lime told me, "Now don't lose it again!". Thankfully, I didn't lose it again and I haven't lost it ever since. But even today, I still push my pinky finger against my ring finger quite a bit. I think it's a subconscious thing where I'm always checking to make sure the ring is still there. As a result, I get the 'naked' feeling whenever the ring isn't on my finger. I hope I never have to deal with losing it again.