Not a Dog’s Tale/Lore of the Ring
I lost my wedding band yesterday.
Sometimes, the best way to increase the dramatic tension of a story is to bury the lede. Stanley went on for goddamn ever before finally admitting he’d found Dr. Livingston. He made you wait for it: “Dr. Livingston, I presume,” didn’t come until the reader had less hope than Stanley ever did.
Not tonight. I lost my wedding ring. The ring, the one she put on my finger when I took those vows in front of all those people. That ring. The one. I lost it. The week of my bride’s birthday. “Happy birthday, honey! To demonstrate my love for you, I’ve gone and tossed aside the one tangible bit you gave me on our wedding day! Where are you going?”
It must have happened during or right after my shower. I noticed it was gone when I was rubbing my hands together with the creamy stuff Eve makes me buy for my hair. (Eve is a genius. One expensive haircut from her every three weeks, and then all I have to do in between is put a small bit of some cheap stuff in my hair, brush it quickly, and forget about it. Call me a metrosexual if you must, but never have so few done so little to look so good. Anyway.) Rubbing my hands, there was a distinct lack of presence where something should have been distinctly present.
That realization was followed immediately by one of those Oh Shit moments you know will stick with you in the exact same way that oatmeal with wheat germ doesn’t.
OK OK OK OK OKOKOKOK. It can’t have gone far. It has to be around here. I would’ve noticed if it was missing when I was washing my hair, for the same reason I noticed it was missing when I was putting in the cream stuff.
Only it wasn’t. I tore apart the bedroom and bathroom for an hour before giving up. And when I say, “giving up,” I mean: “Giving up on those two rooms and then going and tearing up the rest of the house for even longer.” There was a flashlight involved. Much moving of furniture and emptying of drawers and accusing looks at the cat. And… why is the dog coughing?
Yeah, Xander coughed. And I had sudden images of me wearing latex gloves all the way up to, I don’t know, my toes, digging through his little gifts in the back yard.
Well, what would you have thought?
So I called the vet. The conversation went like this:
Me: This is going to sound strange, but I’ve lost my wedding ring, and there’s a chance the dog got it.
Pretty receptionist: Oh my. What kind of dog is it?
Me: He’s a Golden Retriever.
Pretty receptionist: You’d better bring him in.
(Golden owners will understand why that is funny.)
The next conversation I had went like this:
Me: Xander, wanna go for a ride?
Xander: (No actual speech in reply, but he instead became a fuzzy blond cruise missile aimed at the door to the garage.)
Half an hour and half a hundred dollars later, Xander was off the hook. I, however, was still half on it. On the plus side, I’d wriggled out of spending the afternoon waiting for the dog to poop, then digging through the results for buried treasure. On the minus, I still had no clue where my wedding band had gotten to.
I still don’t. I’ve looked everywhere.
And so now I have to ask you: Where is the strangest place you’ve ever found lost jewelry, and how long did it take for it to turn up?
Click on the “Drinks” below to leave me your answer. And please tell me it didn’t take long, because in the meantime, I’m the one in the doghouse.
I always find things in the last place I look…
I already looked there.
Mine ended up in the lawn, I found it about a year later.
If your ring is loose as mine is and you don’t have knuckles to safe guard the slippage– try the drain in both the shower and the sink. Hopefully, you haven’t cleaned the drains recently and there may be some gunk that “has” your ring.
I finally put a guard on mine so that it would not go anywhere!
Sorry, no help here, but that dog of yours is a Beauty.
The Dog Scores….
NOT his fault – AND gets a ride in the car!!! The IM conversation sort of lays out the future holiday plans of one Mr Green. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Jason: http://www.vodkapundit.com/archives/004633.php#004633 Jim: gonna be a long [expensive] holiday season …
My dog Samantha has swallowed earrings from two different women’s ears. She’s sly, Sam is. She’s a yellow lab – cuter than your cutie pup o’course, but not by much! In both thefts, Sam went for the sly “oh lemme kiss your face, honey!” ploy,… then amid all the licking and kissing she went quickly and surrepititiously for an earlobe and slurped down the earrings. They were studs, too. (The earrings, not Sam.) I know what it’s like to feel puppy poop for studs. Don’t ever do it. I have no idea where your wedding ring is, VP. Cheers.
Oh wait. Now I remember why I wrote this. Once I lost a ring. It was down the drain in my sink. Check the trap.
I misplaced my class ring some time ago. I usually pull it out and wear it only once or twice per year. The Army-Navy game’s coming up soon, though.
My mother once left a ring I made for her (I was into lapidary in high school) on the sink in a motel room. We never got that one back. Not what you wanted to hear, I know, but you weren’t on a cross-country trip when you mislaid your wedding band, either.
It wasn’t mine, but it was my car….
The ring managed to slip off the finger between the seat and the center console. That’s bad enough, but then it managed to get under the carpet. And then under the firewall.
Getting it out didn’t quite involve taking apart the back seat, but it was about as close as I want to get.
and accusing looks at the cat.
Unless you’re dead certain it happened when (and where) you think it did, don’t rule out the cat as culprit–my weirdest place to find lost jewelry was under the fridge, also known as That Great Feline Toy Repository. They love hearing the clinky-clink of precious metal on tiled floors, those critters.
On the plus side, the cat’s a whole lot less likely to have actually eaten it.
Lost
Vodkapundit’s lost his wedding ring–just in time for his bride’s birthday. Ouch.
Saint Anthony is the patron saint of lost articles. Pray to Saint Anthony then look very, very closely outward beginning from the point where you first noticed it was gone.
This will not be helpful either.
Both my wife and I lost our wedding rings. Separately.
I lost mine baking bread. It ended up in a (failed) loaf of sourdough and got thrown out.
My wife made the mistake of putting on some perfume in the morning. That afternoon we decided to go to the beach, where a number of bees decided that she smelled just terrific. Of course, the bees had a point, but she didn’t appreciate the compliment. She was waving them off and the ring just flew off her finger into the sand and tall grass. Gone forever until some nerd with a metal detector finds it.
For what its worth, both of those events happened more than 25 years ago. We are still together.
Take hope. My friend lost his ring in the parking lot next to his apartment. In New York. In the snow. Weeks later, after the snow had melted, he found it when he happened to drop something else in the same parking lot.
That said, did you open the U-pipe in the sink drain?
my class ring ended up in the small outside pocket of my rugby kit bag for 8 years. It was a Very small pocket…
Either it fell off, or you took it off.
If it fell off, it may have happened during the night. Check your bedding, check under the bed, check the washer and dryer.
It also may have happened when your hands were busy enough that the sensation of losing the ring would have been ignored – sliding your hand into the space between the car seat and the center console is good example. Did you do anything like that?
If you took it off, check your pockets and check every horizontal surface near where you might have been standing at the time.
Good jewelry story that doesn’t belong to me:
When I was in high school, the pitcher on the school baseball team noticed something shiny on the mound during a game. He picked it up, and saw it was a ring. After the game, he and the coach tried to figure out where it came from.
They had just gotten a donation of extra dirt from a family whose kids went to the high school. They called the family and learned that the dirt had originally come from the garden in their backyard. And in that garden ten years earlier, their daughter (my friend) lost a ring while planting flowers. Ten years later, it was on a pitcher’s mound.
You never know.
Someone else I know bought “spare” wedding bands when he got married so he would never have to tell his wife if he lost his. He keeps three identical bands hidden in his sock drawer, just in case.
My dad lost his fishing, right into the lake. My mom lost the diamond out of her setting while she was packing boxes when my family moved. It may or may not be in our basement.
My wife lost her engagement ring … I found it leaning up against the baseboard under the bottom ledge of the cabinetry in the kitchen.
Point is, have no pre-conceived notions about what to look for – i.e. one might look for a circle when looking for a ring, but if its standing up against something, you’ll never see it because it doesn’t appear circular. It may be “hiding in plain sight”.
Unlikely, but possible:
1. pull out drawers in dressers and cabinets, small objects can fall behind them.
2. go through all garbage piece by piece (yuk), small objects can get mixed up in trash and thrown away.
Good luck!
Why is it always the last place you look? Because after you find it…you stop looking.
Anyway…this may or may not be helpful.
Was your ring custom made?
My wedding ring is a uniquely shaped custom made thing, beautifully crafted in gold by a jewelry-making friend of my mother’s.
Merely two weeks after my bride and I were married, we attended a big summer picnic at a large park. I played some softball with the guys. Very shortly after the game was over, I noticed that my ring was GONE. I’m sure that at some point when I removed my baseball glove, the ring came off with it. It wasn’t stuck in the glove, so I and everybody else at the picnic (about 30 people) got on our hands and knees and started looking all around the big, grassy field looking for the ring.
No luck. Never found it.
HOWEVER….the woman who made the ring still had the original wax die/mold, and was able to use it to make an exact duplicate!! AND…our homeowner’s insurance paid for it!!
I certainly hope you find yours. But even if you don’t, you may be able to get a replacement paid for thru your insurance. I know insurance couldn’t begin to compensate you for the emotional aspect of the original article, but at least it’ll soften the financial blow.
My soon-to-be-ex gave hers back to me a month ago. I wish she had lost it.
Forget about the BS symbols, they mean nothing.
You said you were taking a shower. I usually put my wedding ring on top of the toilet tank before I hop in the shower. Once, it slipped behind the tank and got wedged in the narrow unpainted void between the tank and the wall.
A month after the wedding I wiped my ring off my finger with a paper towel and tossed it into the trash. Found it soon, though. (My mom is on her third wedding ring, and has had several small diamonds replaced on her engagement ring. These things happen…)
Everybody was present for the beautiful, meticulously planned, outdoor wedding ceremony. The minister asked for the ring. My 3 year old grandson, the ring bearer, was found to be completely empty handed!
A frantic search by the guests was unproductive…picture men, women,and children in their wedding best on their hands and knees scratching at the ground while everyone else waited!
The minister asked for a substitute ring from a guest so the ceremony could proceed. The bride, frozen by superstition, refused to let it be put on by the groom and let it “accidentally” fall to the ground. Ater the ceremony was over, sans ring, and hours later the groom dug up a considerable portion of the yard near where my grandson was last noticed to be standing ( far from the actual altar site) and lo and behold the ring was recovered from a crack between the lawn and the foundation of the house. They are still happily married
Never lost a wedding ring (never had one — yet!) but I’m famous for finding contact lenses on the floor. Just get down and put your cheek on the floor and look across the surface in every direction. If it’s there, you’ll see it immediately.
I have had my own ring slip off my finger before. Keep in mind that if it comes off while you’re walking, you might very well kick it without noticing. Also, if you’re flailing your arms in frustration at the moonbats of the world, that too could send it flying. Point is, expand your search perimeter. The damn thing could be anywhere.
And on the subject, my (now) wife contrived to lose my fraternity pin while we were dating in school. So if any of you stumbles across a little shield with a moon and crescent on it at Sweet Briar College in Virginia, let me know.
I don’t have any suggestions beyond what the other’s have already said, but I just wanted to add that when you find it, please go get it resized so that it does not fall off again!
I lost my college class ring in my living room while playing air guitar. I actually felt it slip off my finger and heard it clang against the wall, but then it just vanished. Six months later my room mate’s brother found it in the couch — exactly where I had looked, and vacuumed, for half a year.
When I got married my wife and I decided to get cheap 14-karat gold bands so that if they ever disappeared we could just replace them without any worry or heart-ache. For this reason alone I expect us to retain the originals for the rest of our lives…
This is my parents’ story. They were at the beach in South Carolina where my dad’s parents lived. My mother realized her wedding ring was gone about 15 minutes after they got home after being at the beach all day. My father rushed back to the beach and searched in the sand. The sun was going down, the tide was coming up . . . and he found it! Truly amazing. Unfortunately, they divorced about 10 years after that, but are still good friends and great parents.
Not to worry about it if it’s gone forever. From how you speak of her, I’m sure your wife is the kind of woman who will roll her eyes, accept it, and then tease you about it for the rest of your long happy lives together.
My ring resides in the muck at the bottom of a Canadian glacial lake. We were backpacking, and I crawled from the tent, waded into the ice cold water to wash my face, which shrunk my hands, and I didn’t notice the ring was missing until 20 minutes later. Until the next ice age exhumes it from it’s tomb, to the benefit of some archeologist studying the recerational habits of North American humans in the late 20th century, it is gone. In any case, my dear mate knew that I really hated wearing jewelry (can’t even stand a watch), was grateful that I had made this sacrifice without complaint for 5 years, and did not insist that I replace it. Rumors flews among acquaintainces (not friends) that our marriage was in trouble when they noticed my bare hands, but this was only a source of amusement to my dearest.
Anyways, look in the drains, if they aren’t covered……..
Second on going through trash bags–I was feeling guilty about having taken out the trash for nine months. My wife had left her ring on the shelf above the trash bag and I hadn’t checked.
As it turned out, the cats had sent it under a bookcase. Found it when disassembling the library for the move. Very happy day, as I’d given up hope for it long since.
The worst I’ve ever done is dropped a charm bracelet my parents gave me in the bay off Catalina. It wasn’t expensive as much as it was sentimental. Never found it, and couldn’t have without the help of a professional diver.
I hope it turns up, Stephen, but if not, just remind yourself that the ring is only a symbol of a promise, and losing it doesn’t make your commitment to and love for your wife any less solid. Hopefully she’ll understand.
A friend of mine had his wedding ring fall off his finger while swimming in about 15 feet of lake water with a rocky/gravelly bottom. He would have given up on it but for another friend that actually owned scuba gear. The scuba friend filled his tank and went for a dive and actually found it! In a way I guess this wasn’t so bad since he did know exactly where the ring was, it was just hard to get at.
Lost mine about a year after the wedding. Found it six months later in one of my wife’s dress shoes … I’d been helping her clean out the closet, and it must have slipped off unnoticed, landing in a shoe that isn’t worn very often, hiding up near the toe where it would never be seen.
Lost mine off the coast of Maui on the second day of our honeymoon. Like Will Allen, cold water shrunk the finger flesh just enough to let me see it dropping down through some of the prettiest scenary in the world. Told Sweet Vicki that it would be a talisman of our love when we returned to the mainland – she didn’t buy it, but we’ve been married for over 26 years, so you may possibly survive, too….good luck…
Have you found it yet?
My sister had just received a new anniversary ring from her husband which basically consisted of a pretty band and a big big diamond. One night we went to a Styx concert in an outdoor ampitheater (Chastain Park, in Atlanta) and in the middle of the show she realized that the diamond was missing. Styx continued playing while we crawled around looking for it. People assume we were looking for a contact lens so other people started looking.
The truly amazing part is that someone about 4 rows in front of us found it and gave it back.
Never give up hope.
Of course, if I lost my ring my wife would kill me. Then mock me for a year or so.
After almost 15 years of marriage I have lost my wedding ring twice and, miraculously, recovered it twice as well. The first time was in the ejection seat of a military aircraft. REALLY bad news…a maintainer found it about a week later, which cost me a case of beer and quite a few ‘cool points.’ The second time was at a restaurant on the east coast. One where the decor consists of butcher paper, bibs, and a galvanized aluminum tub full of blue crab…oh my…I’m salivating just thinking of the place. Needless to say, when the wholesale slaughter of innocent crabs was complete, I was indeed in need of a shower, but lacking the proper facilities for that cleanup, I instead opted for a hand-washing that started just south of the shoulder and continued to the very tips of my butter stained fingers. And I’m here to tell you; no finer a lubricant has been invented than the combination of melted butter and liquid restaurant soap. My wedding ring virtually leapt off my finger and, without touching a thing, seemingly drawn by gravitational forces slightly less than a black hole literally zoomed down the plugless drain. What followed was a string of invective so vile I believe the Devil himself took notes. Luckily some delinquent, either by design or malice, had shoved a wad of paper towels down the drain and a call to the plumber was rendered unnecessary. But you truly haven’t lived until you’ve trolled the drain gunk of a public restroom and needless to say, another hand washing…sans ring…was in order.
Good luck with your predicament. I’d recommend searching the ‘P’ trap of the drain, but make sure you have some teflon tape to reseal the threads.
Well, at least you weren’t cooking—industrially, that is.
My husband used to be in the restaurant trade and one restaurant he worked at made all the management trainees spend a week in the kitchen, being a slave to the sous chefs and line guys. One night, while chopping interminable amounts of veg, he noticed his ring wasn’t where it was supposed to be. This was one year after we’d gotten married and he began to freak out. He had every busboy, wait assistant, chef, manager and server in the place searching for it—which also meant some unlucky SOB had to search through ALL the fifty gallon trash containers, and the dumpster, as a load had just been taken out. It wasn’t found: he then called me at home and asked, in a very hesitant tone of voice, “Um, Kath is my wedding ring on my nightstand or in the kitchen?” To put it kindly, he got the rough side of my tongue (he wanted a platinum wedding ring—it cost almost a thousand bucks! and I knew he would have been just as ticked if I’d lost mine, which had cost A LOT more.) and roped everyone into a second extended search.
Where was it?
In his pocket. It’d been interfering with his use of the knife and he’d forgotten he’d put in his pocket during a rush.
Then there’s the time he was bartending and it caught on a glass and slipped into the bottom of the industrial ice chest…
Don’t worry: it’ll turn up. And if it doesn’t, well, it’s just a ring—not your marriage. It holds sentimental value, yes, but it’s not as important as your bride or the marriage you have with her. Good luck and I do hope it turns up.
I used to find my ring in the bed all the time. Apparently, it slipped off while I slept, so I finally stopped wearing it to bed. (And stopped waking up with scratches on my face, too. A nice benefit.)
I’ve also found mine in the trap under the bathroom sink, as well as in the pile of towels next to the shower where it slipped off while I was fumbling for a clean one.
Since you were getting out of the shower when you noticed its absence, I would ordinarily suggest looking in the pockets and interior of your robe. Then again, you probably don’t wear one – you seem like a “walk around naked” kinda guy to me. So, maybe look behind the toilet?
When I was a kid (like 10), one evening at the end of dinner, out of the blue, my mom let out the most awful, blood-curdling scream I have ever heard, and then started sobbing. We had no idea what had happened.
When she recovered enough to talk, she said she had looked down and noticed that the diamond was gone from her engagement ring. She was beside herself.
Looked everywhere, no luck. Pretty much gave up.
A week or so later, she went to dump out the vacuum cleaner, and out dropped the diamond — and all the dirt somehow remained suspended inside the vacuum cleaner long enough for her to retrieve the prodigal gem.
How’s that for a weird one?
Found my ring with a rented metal detector. I lost it outside while doing yardwork, but it might be worth a try indoors.
Hey, I just noticed the part about accusing looks at the cat. You may have been onto something there. Our jeweler said cats eat jewelry. I think it’s a crock as a generality, but it must be the case that some cats do that, or he wouldn’t have the idea that all cats do. So, check the box?
Mainly cats feel the need to test the law of gravity on a daily basis by knocking anything small off of the dresser, table, . . . Do you have floor vents?
You don’t have a swimming pool, do you? Or a lake? I lost my first wedding ring (from my ex-wife) swimming in a lake — cold water, my finger shrunk, the ring slipped off. My wife lost her engagement ring in our swimming pool last year — the water was pretty cloudy, and it took us a month or so to find it.
Good luck!
Is your wife sneaky enough to have found it and is punishing you / seeing how long it takes for you to fess up? If it sounds like I know that scam too well, you’re right. The light of my life pulled that crap a couple of times and I made it TOO CLEAR that it wasn’t cool at all.
Otherwise, you are soooooo dead, Dude! At least there’s a new episode of South Park tonight to cheer you up.
Love yer site, btw.
geeeez
All good suggestions / stories.
The cat toy concept and drain / towel laundry angle seem the most plausable, but with a ring, anything is possible. Best wishes on finding it.
My dad’s wedding ring was lost at the hospital immediately after his death. Everyone including the Nuns searched high and low, but it was no where to be found. Two nights later, I had a dream of my dad’s body covered on a gurney, and I don’t remember exactly how I knew it, but the ring was there in the dream. The next day, his ring was found – in the hallway that lead only to the hospital’s morgue – and I was called to come and retrieve it for my mother.
I have lost several important pieces of jewelry over the years, some were found, some not. I would suspect that since you (think) you lost your ring in the house, it will turn up . . . unless of course you did put it on the toilet and flushed it.
I lost my engagement ring just after my marriage (no wedding ring). I had taken it off to put on a pair of panty hose.
6 months later found it in the living room sofa under the cushions.
I am positive I was in the bedroom when I took it off, so I do believe one of the cats picked it up to play with. I have seen them do that with other things, rubber bands for my hair, for example.
Anyway, still married 10 years now.
Adriane
i lost my Chai neckless like right after i got it. now for my bar mitzvah i got this jewelry case, and i normally keep my neckless there, but for sum reason i kinda lost it. for i think it was 2 and a half weeks i couldnt find it, when i did find it it was, believe it or not was right next to my jewelry case, so to shorten it, have ya checked next the the tub/sink?
also another story, i just recently lost my neckless (same one no doubt) in wat else, but my hunting tent. thats a story for the next few years, i lost my jewish neckless while trying to kill a deer for sum good ol fashion un-kosher food..mmmmm
Lost mine in the woodpile. Took it off while splitting wood and slipped it a bit into the stack on a flat log. Finished splitting and stacking, and that evening when my wife noted it missing, I could not for the life of me remember what I did with it. Looked everywhere etc etc.
Well over a year later I was getting wood, lifted a billet from the stack, and there it was. I immediately recalled the circumstances of it’s being there, but ….
Does this help?
Don’t have jewelry, but you might like this. My cousen looses things alot. He goes through cell phones quarterly. He’s been married a little over 2yrs and is on his third ring I believe. He got a simple white gold ring that is easy to replace and keeps a spare on deck now.
i had a ring once. it was preeettty.
I lost a signet ring while sailing in Monterey Bay. Saw the damn thing hit the deck and roll off as I was wrestling with a sail.
My wife has lost her wedding and engagement rings many times but they’ve always shown up in the bottom of her tennis bag.
The drains are good places to check as has been mentioned by many others.
To add to Sulizano’s commentary, also take a flashlight and place it on the floor/ground so the light makes everything cast a long shadow behind itself, then slowly swing it from side to side. Even the tiniest objects will show up very well.
Regarding the metal detector idea, I own one and if you suspect the ring is outdoors it’s worth a try. Detectors are worthless indoors, however. The detector has to be on a sensitive setting to detect gold, and there’s far too much metal in a house to be able to get any useful feedback from the machine.
SERIOUS ADVICE: Change your view about what has happened. A lifetime of experience has convinced me that some missing objects are not misplaced: they have temporarily gone out of existence. (A decidedly curious corner of physics, like the bizarre phenomena of disappearing socks.)When they do this, they return, usually in some obvious place already searched.
I am not a Catholic, but I have discovered that a good way to catalyze return is to say a prayer to St. Anthony. My fiercely anti-Catholic girlfirend lost an heirloom ring and panicked just as you have. I teased her about Anthony, said the prayer, and within four hours found the ring in a pewter cup where it had no business being. She was so relieved she even stopped sputtering about saints.
Relax. Give it a try. Will it back into existence.
Regards,
Robert
YOu can get a golden retriever x-rayed for $50? Don’t assume they didn’t miss something. Squish that poop flat before throwing it away, man. Consider the cost of replacing the ring your hourly wage for doing that job for a few days.
Hey- you should do what I did. If you just gain about 30 pounds after you are married that sucker will never come off
So, I’m sure you’ve either found it by now or are sick of looking through all these messages. Anyways, here are my two bits… During that massive snowstorm this past spring, I discovered that one of my sapphire earings was missing (you know the one I’m talking about). Well, after I was convinced that it was lost in a 6 ft snow drift and had been shopping for a replacement, something happened. I was standing at the top of the stairs talking to my brother, and was looking down… my earring was between the carpet and the baseboard. Thank god my vacuum is a POS, otherwise it would’ve been gone. Not much help to you, but have you tried looking in the laundry? Maybe it got caught in your towel, or something. Good luck!
Weren’t you reading the fridge earlier? It might have fallen off in the kitchen, around there.
My mother lost hers, to her great dismay, and it turned up several months later when my Dad was cleaning the O-ring gasket on their front-loading automatic washing machine. God knows how it had got in there, but no harm came to it.
I really hope you get it back. There are some things that are genuinely irreplaceable. I suppose the good news is that it really can’t have gone far.
The Butler did it…
So, it’s not a ring, but my girlfriend lost an earring and was frantic. We searched the usual places (several times), when I remembered that Butler, the cat, had been suspiciously batting something earlier in the day.
I went to the general area and looked around. Nothing. Then I looked at the area again. The thing I spied had to be the current resting place of the missing jewelry. I walked over to the heating vent, lifted the screen, and sure enough, there it was.
Along with the other spots, give this one a try too.
Good luck.
Rick
Did you have to put your hand into some tight space within last 24-36 hours? It could have slipped out while you retrieved your hand.