One Ring To Rule Them All

Over a year ago, I lost my wedding ring.

This was no ordinary ring, of course--it was a Kovalick family heirloom. My great-grandmother on my mom's side had worn it her whole life, and then had passed it down to my maternal grandmother, who had kept it in her drawer because her finger wasn't small enough to wear it. My mother and my aunt both had larger fingers, too, but finally I was the Cinderella who came along and fit it perfectly. It was platinum with seven small diamonds, and was pretty much priceless.

I was having my engagement ring cleaned that week, and I never liked to wear my wedding ring without my engagement ring on top of it, since the wedding ring was always a little looser and I was worried about it slipping off. So I put it on a silver chain and wore it around my neck.

And then one day the chain broke, and I didn't notice until it was too late.

I cried for a whole week. I refused to get out of bed unless I had to go to work. I hardly ate. I sobbed in the bathroom at work. And I never saw that ring again.

Finally I just bought a cheap silver ring from Etsy for about $25. I've been wearing it since then, and I love it, but it's not the same.

Then last fall my dad's mother died. She was pretty old (in her late 90s) and pretty depressed and not entirely sure who anyone was at that point. It was sad, but not unexpected.

This week my dad went to visit his dad in Colorado, and came back with a box of rings. Apparently my grandmother left her valuable rings to my sisters and I in her will, and since I'm the eldest, I got her wedding ring.

It's huge.

The ring is actually two rings fused together--my grandma's engagement ring and wedding ring, soldered into one. Between this ring and my engagement ring, I now have seven diamonds on my hand--five small ones and two big ones. The big diamond in the heirloom ring is at least a carat.

I am probably the only homeless unemployed person in the whole world to wear a crown-jewels-worth of diamonds on her left hand.

I haven't decided whether or not I'll wear this new ring all the time, or whether I'll keep my cheap Etsy ring for everyday and bring out the fancy one for special occasions. But no matter what I do, I'm so grateful to have this ring--it feels, somehow, like a second chance.

Thanks, Grandma Walker. I miss you.

We can haz a home!!

Adam and I received our housing offer from the University today, which is pretty exciting. Overall we're pretty pleased with it, although like everything else in the world, it's not perfect. It's a one-bedroom in the northern part of Hyde Park, and it'll cost us $844/month for almost 600 sq. ft.-- which might seem expensive, unless you consider than in NYC we were paying $1200/month for 350 sq. ft. Then it looks positively reasonable. :P

Pros:
-Location, location, location. It's in the safer part of HP (from what I'm told, anyway) and there are about a million bus stops only a block away. It's close to the Metra station, too, in case Adam wants to take that to work. It's not, like, right next to the Div. School or anything, but I kind of prefer that-- I like a good walk in the morning.
-ELEVATOR. Enough said. Also, the service elevator (which we'd use when moving in) is, quite literally, right next door to our place. Yesssssssss.
-We're on the 7th floor, which is the very top, so we can continue our trend of always living in the "penthouse." (In Austintown we lived on the top floor of a three-story building; in NYC we lived on the top floor of a four-story building.) We like living on the top floor because it's quieter and seems a little more private.
-There's bike storage space for Adam's bike.
-It's bigger than our old place-- not by a LOT, but by enough.
-The kitchen has actual counters! And we can both fit in it at the same time! OMFG!
-There's a parking lot. We don't have a car, but it's nice to know that if we did have a car, like in the future or whatever, we'd have a place to park it.
-Three closets. It's a lifetime record for us!
-The building is A-okay with animals.
-We'll have the largest one-bedroom in the whole building, AND a view of the river!
-The building is wired for AT&T internet, so we'll no longer have to use Evil Horrible Time Warner Cable Internet of Death.

Cons:
-No dishwasher. Um, boo.
-Electric isn't included...and the stove is electric. Double boo.
-The bathroom looks kinda weird. Here, look:

Doesn't that toilet sort of look like a repurposed urinal? Maybe? Also, I'm not crazy about a window in the shower right at boob-height.
-No painting the walls in this place. Lame.
-Also, all the other apartments in the building are either one-bedrooms, furnished studios, or furnished two-bedrooms meant to be shared between two students. This means that there won't be many older families and instead we'll have a lot of younger, single grad students. This isn't exactly a con, I guess, since we are younger grad students, but...I just was hoping for more families, since Adam and I aren't partiers and don't really want loud drunken interruptions in the middle of the night. But hey, I've heard that U of C is very non-party-oriented, and it's not like we'll be living with any undergrads, so maybe this is a non-issue.
-No dishwasher. Again. It's so annoying that I had to mention it one more time. ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

So there you have it: the new McCluskey-Walker abode. Hyde Park, here we come!

Long Time No See

It's been awhile! Adam and I had a great time at his graduation...and then a horrible time with moving, as usual. Gah. I hate packing, carrying, loading, transporting, and unloading all our crap. And the idea that we have to do it all again in August makes me faintly panicked at the moment.

But for now, all our stuff is safely away in a storage unit in Youngstown, and we're staying at our parents' places for the summer. Right now we're spending a lot of time at my parents' house, mostly because my allergies get worse out in the country where Alice and Jim live. This Thursday, though, I'm going to the allergist to get some allergy treatments started, so then we'll be able to spend more time with my in-laws.

Our schedule for the summer is looking busy! Here's what we're doing:

June 19: Adam goes up to Cleveland to meet with the Bishop
July 5-7: We're going to General Convention in Indianapolis!
July 19-Aug. 2: Vacationing in Florida (and visiting my grandma, and attending Adam's friend's ordination) with my mom and my middle sister
Aug. 15-18: Vacationing on Kelley's Island with my parents and both my sisters
Aug. 31: Moving Day!

Expect regular updates, especially about Convention. Obviously, I'll have a lot to say about that. ;)

Also, I'm a columnist this summer for Hipolitics, so check out my writing there!