Arrrg! Allow me a rant here. My sister is in very deep mourning for

[hedgehog]

our mother. She treasured my mother's wedding band which my mother gave her wedding band on her death bed.

So - my sister goes to her son's hockey game, throws her hands up in the air after a goal - and the ring flies off.

She looked all over for the ring, and even went through the garbage. No luck. I have to believe that some jerk found that ring and kept it.

Now, what kind of person would find what is obviously a wedding band and keep it?

[LynneSin]

1. Has she thought of putting a sign up at the hockey rink and offer a small reward

It's worth a shot, especially if the ring has that kind of value to her.

I would then suggest if she does get it back to have the ring refitted to her hand.

[Maccagirl]

2. The same thing (sort of) happened to me

with my grandmother's engagement ring that I had been wearing for years. I lost a lot of weight and I believe it fell off at work (on an assembly line) and was probably swept up of the floor with the other trash. I was/am sick about it. What kind of person would find a wedding band and keep it? A (bleep)...and there are plenty of those in the world.

[MrsBrady]

3. that sucks.

just do everything you can to help her find it, if she wants help.
and just let her grieve.
Just make sure it's grief and not despair. Two different things.

I had a cat break a ceramic piece that my grandmother's sister had made for her, and my grandmother gave it to me.
It didn't have any dollar value, but my grandmother treasured it.
I was devastated, and honestly was the first time I considered killing my cat (not really but you know what I mean).

Losing people you love sucks, but what helps me is to do things that they would have wanted done...
like...
I made sure I fished my degree, as grandma was glad I was going back to finish, try to stay in touch with extended family, etc....
As a musician, my financial life has not always been stable, so I'm taking steps to move into music ed, not just gigging.
My grandmother gave me lots of good advice on how to stay married, and being married for 63 years, she would have known.
Stuff like that.

I had a friend pass away, and I've tried to help his family with stuff when the've needed it. He lived in the Dallas
area and every ONE of his family live in Boston and Charlotte.....so...they didn't know any of his friends, etc...

that kind of stuff can help.
:hug:

My cousin has my great-grandmother's wedding ring. Makes me a little jealous. But it doesn't bring anybody back,
so I try not to dwell on it. :hug:

[BlueIris]

4. Somebody clueless about the concept of family heirlooms, or you know...personal ones.

I think most people would understand that a 'found' wedding ring should be returned.

[seabeyond]

5. i am so so sorry for your sister. it is heartbreaking to her, this loss

of course not about a thing. but i do get it. that is sad. i wish someone had helped her out, being a better person, handing it to her.

[marzipanni]

6. I suppose she put up a flyer, told hockey rink management

If a high school kid found a ring they might take it home not knowing what to do with it, and tell a parent, but then different options of what to do arise.
Someone might have found the ring and thought the person who lost it may not even realize where the ring was lost ("OMG where's my ring? Was it in my pocket or purse or left on sink in restroom... Where could I have lost it?") and there isn't a universal "go to" place to turn something in, or notify of lost/found items.

Has she asked at police station if anyone turned a ring in, looked at Craigslist or local paper lost & found, and, as a last resort, looked at local pawn shop(s)?

[hedgehog]

7. She lost the ring last February, and has been back to the rink many times

looking for it.

I strongly suspect that ring was sold to one of those "money for your gold" places.

[gratuitous]

8. 10 months later? Yeah, probably long gone . . .

Which sucks and sucks mightily. I don't know what the going price is these days for a gold wedding band, but I think it would be a real nice gesture on your part to buy a small wedding band (that will fit your sister's finger, lest she go to any more hockey games or get into a bar fight or something) engraved with your mother's name and year of birth and death. It isn't the one your mother wore, but it could become a keepsake/heirloom in its own right.

[hedgehog]

9. As it happens, I gave the diamond from my mother's engagement

band to my son's fiancee, so my sister gets the ring this week. It means more to me to give it to someone than to keep it for myself.

[gratuitous]

10. There ya go

A very nice and classy Christmas gift.