Lost A Part of Me

When my late husband asked me to marry him, he didn't have a ring in his pocket. He wanted me to help him pick out what *I* wanted. So we went to DeMontigny Jewelers in Nashua, NH (a client of mine at the time) and created a special ring. Just under a half carat pear brilliant diamond flanked by a diamond and emerald on either side of the setting. It was beautiful. When he died in 2006 at the age of 40, I was devastated. I wanted to something with the ring and ended up having the pear diamond made into a pendant and got a 20" yellow gold chain with a lobster clasp made to wear. The rest of the ring was made into earrings. I wore that necklace every day, never taking it off except for once when I was in the emergency room earlier this year for x-rays for bronchitis.

I was in Portsmouth, NH this past Saturday (June 21st, the first day of Spring) to attend a book signing of a dear friend, the retired chief of police of Portsmouth, NH, David "Lou" Ferland. I met a friend at Starbucks in Market Square. I distinctly remembered moving the lobster clasp on the chain to the back of my neck (as I often did) before I left the house. My friend and I wandered around downtown, down some back streets then went to the Maine-ly New Hampshire gift shop on Deer Street. Lou gave us huge hugs, signed our books and took photos with us.

When I got home, my husband wanted to go to the flea market around the corner. We did and ran into a friend who was running one of the tables (she sells tools and such that my husband likes to purchase). I put my hand up to touch the pendant. . .it was gone. I panicked, thinking I lost it while walking from the car to my friend's table. I then remembered I had my photo taken with Lou. I looked on my iPhone and realized it was not on my neck. I didn't remember any tugging (the lobster clasp and chain were very sturdy). All I could think of is that Lou hugged me really hard and somehow it came off.

I also remembered a young couple with a puppy. The puppy entangled itself between my legs and I remember someone grabbing my arm (me thinking they were holding me up). I wonder if it was then, when everyone was distracted, that maybe someone snatched it off my neck. I would think I would have felt a tugging, but if they had something to snip the necklace off my neck, who knows?

I searched my car three times, the driveway, the walkway to the car, inside the house, retracing my steps up until leaving in the car. No necklace.

I called the gift shop, then we drove down to Portsmouth and went to the shop. We all looked around the store (store owner, Lou, my husband and me), then my husband and I began the task of retracing my steps through downtown Portsmouth - all of them that I had taken with my friend. I hadn't realized how much I'd walked and my husband said he was going to dream about red bricks (the sidewalks in downtown Portsmouth are pretty much all brick). No necklace. No diamond pendant.

I alerted the parking lot attendant, who wrote down my info, then when we got back to my car, I called the local police to file a report (as Lou suggested to me). Then we drove home. I placed two ads on Craigslist, one in Maine (where I live), one in New Hampshire and offered a reward. A friend on Facebook suggested calling local pawn shops. On Sunday, I called or emailed every pawn shop and jewelry store in Portsmouth and Kittery, Maine. The ones that were not open on Sunday I called today. I placed a classified ad in the local paper.

No one has come in with my necklace so far.

I even looked on Craigslist in the Jewelry for sale sections in Maine, NH and Massachusetts. Nothing. I checked eBay. Nothing. I followed up with a phone call to the police officer on his voicemail.

The phone has been silent.

Just in case, it is a 20" yellow gold 14K chain with a .45 carat pear brilliant diamond in a 14k yellow gold setting. If it hadn't been something from my late husband, I wouldn't be so desperate to get it back.

So after a few people suggested this, I said a prayer to St. Anthony and I am posting it here as well, in the hopes the necklace turns up.

Saint Anthony, perfect imitator of Jesus, who received from God the special power of restoring lost things, grant that I may find my precious necklace with diamond pendant, which has been lost. As least restore to me peace and tranquility of mind, the loss of which has afflicted me even more than my material loss.

To this favor I ask another of you: that I may always remain in possession of the true good that is God. Let me rather lose all things than lose God, my supreme good. Let me never suffer the loss of my greatest treasure, eternal life with God. Amen.

Here's what it looks like:

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