Stand aside for the man with the tungsten ring!

It’s a long story but you’re going to get the short version - well kind of.

Thirty-two years ago - a fairly wintry day in 1977. No one was outside - that’s how cold it was. So maybe I should say really wintry day instead of fairly wintry day. Anyway, cold. Blazing cold. Miserably cold. Get the picture? From my kitchen window - remember I said no one was outside - I see a man walking slowly down the road in his t-shirt. I kid you not. T-shirt. Black with something about the Bulls written on it even though we were in Salt Lake City not Chicago!

I called for my wife and told her to come and look at what I was seeing - I wanted her to check my eyes because I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. She is different from me, she feels sorry for him - I thought he was an idiot. she says go and invite him in and I said are you crazy? Knowing her, I knew she was serious and again, knowing her, I just mumbled something incoherent under my breath as I bundled up to brave the weather - did I say cold? Really cold???!!!!

As I approach he ways and I see he doesn’t even have gloves on! But he has this major league smile and when I tell him to come in and sit by the fire and warm up - he protests, saying he is just going to the train station which is only a few blocks away. Not wanting to confront my wife without him, I insisted - just for a few minutes. So he obliged.

OK - I’ll get to the point. he had been robbed a few hours earlier - he sold men’s rings and all of his tungsten rings had been stolen along with his new coat, gloves, watch, etc. he said he worked for mensringstore.com, an online seller of jewelry and rings. One of the nicest gentlemen I have ever met - frankly I was delighted my wife insisted on helping him. I felt blessed because we were able to drive him to his home which was 1 and 1/2 hours away - after all he had no money, no coat and would have been more miserable than ever.

I have often wondered why he has such a contagious smile after this horrible experience - I don’t know that I will ever find out but I am glad we met him just the same! Just wish I had asked him about the smile …

Stand aside for the man with the tungsten ring!

Leave a Reply

Archives

Categories