my house swallowed my diamond

Last week I had a heart attack when, in a small but sudden instant, I lost my wedding ring. I use that term "lost" loosely, because I, in fact, knew where it was, and it happened right before my eyes.

I was standing at the corner of our counter, with cabinets below, as shown here...

I was getting ready to get my hands dirty, so, as customary, I took off my two rings to put them in a "safe place." As I turned to my right, both rings dropped and bounced. I saw them bounce. Then, all of a sudden, there was only my wedding band. The diamond was just gone. Just gone. 

I got down on my hands and knees and, sure enough and rather oddly, there were two openings below my cabinets and above the trim. The trim was nailed on and immovable, and I couldn't fit my hand in the spot there. It had to be that my ring had bounced under the cabinet!! What are the chances? 

That night, Shane tried to undo the trim but it was really tough, so he actually went into the right-hand cabinet there and undid all the staples on the side facing the other cabinet, so we could look down in between them. The problem was I still didn't see the ring. I even put my hands down there and felt all around... nothing but forgotten cobwebs. (Yes I was worried about live cobwebs but I put my fears aside.) 

When it didn't immediately show up, I second guessed myself. I had cuffs in my pants... did it fall in my cuff and was now somewhere else in the house? Or in the backyard? Did I miss it and Laurel ate it? (I even, uh, sorta checked her diapers.) Was it under the stove, dishwasher, fridge?

This went on for a couple days. The first night I couldn't sleep and had dreams I found it then woke up in a cold sweat realizing it was still lost.

We've been having some issues with the house, some big projects to work on and plenty of associated stress, so for a time there I was convinced the house ate my diamond. It was mad at me. It was getting back at me. It was scary and ugly and sad. 

Finally, after days of fretting, I got on my hands and knees and ripped the dang trim off. There were two boards of trim actually (not sure the point there), that you can kinda see in the picture above. I had to get them both off. I finally was successful and peered back there... and had visual. 

Somehow, when I put my hand down in there to feel around, I didn't go back far enough or something. It was in there, just waaaaaay back there, and sorta hidden by some scrap, forgotten pieces of wood. It was covered in cobwebs and needed a well-deserved cleaning, but it was safe and sound, just waiting for me to retrieve it. I was so happy to have it back. 

Kinda strange how you feel when thousands of dollars suddenly disappear, huh? Whew, glad that got resolved.