Teasing, Materialism and LISTENING

***This post is not written to beg for lots of "poor you" comments.  I am only doing this to see if it will make me feel at least a little bit better.***

We went to Lake Shasta last week and had SO much fun.  We are already planning our trip for next summer.  The sun was shining, the water was 80 degrees.  AWESOME.  Friday we rented a waterski boat with some friends and had even more fun.  We, or I, came off with just one hitch....

BEFORE SHASTA:

AFTER SHASTA:

  I know it would be obvious that losing a wedding ring would upset someone.  Several reasons for my continued angst come to mind.  I'll start with the least important. 
1. The 3rd summer we were married, Ben and I went kayaking down the Weber River on the 4th of July.  It was lots of fun.  And when it was over, Ben no longer had a wedding ring.  Since then, we have both been pretty careful about leaving our rings in the car when we go out on the water.  And I have been relentless in teasing Ben about how careless he was to lose his ring in a river.  Who takes their wedding band on a kayak down the river???  So, now, after feeling MY ring slip right off my hand into 4 MILLION acre feet (whatever that means....I tried to do a conversion into a more reasonable measurement, but its a gigantic number) of water, My pride is damaged.  I used to tease Ben about how he has had several speeding tickets and I have not had ONE.  Then I got two in three years and I couldn't tease him again.  Same thing, only this time it cost a lot more money.  I guess the moral of the story is to not tease my husband about embarassing-type mistakes?

2.  I am usually not a very sentimental person.  If its not handmade and its worn out its welcome- I toss it.  If I lose something or break something....I don't usually lose any sleep over it...something else can take its place.  It didn't even really bother me that I lost one of the side diamonds out of my ring (and just finally had it fixed 2 months ago).  I have a sense of pride about the fact that I'm not attached to objects and can de-clutter my stuff pretty easily.  I get a thrill out of filling up the trash can.  I really like my stuff, but to me its just stuff.  SO I keep telling myself that.  This ring was only a temporal symbol of my marriage commitment.  The real commitment isn't wrapped up in that piece of jewelry at the bottom of the lake.  But I REALLY liked my ring!  I liked the engraving on the inside.  I liked that this was the one Ben designed, and the one I used to clean out with staples during accounting classes, I liked that it was the one that we took to the Temple.  And I can get a new one that looks exactly the same.  But its not REALLY the same. 

3.  I'm beating myself up over this one.  I jumped into the lake and looked right at my hand.  Something in my head said, "hey, you're wearing your ring, maybe you should take it off." And I though, "nah, my ring NEVER falls off." And after I fell off the tube pulled by the boat, I literally felt the ring slide off my finger.  I thought maybe I'd be lucky enough that it would still be floating?  HA.  I sometimes struggle with determining the difference between Spiritual promptings and random thoughts in my head.  I feel like Heavenly Father gives us a lot of room to make decisions based on our own thought and logic.  But someone said something to me once, and I'm reminded of it now, ALL GOOD THINGS COME FROM GOD.  So, if I have a feeling I should call a friend, or say something nice to a stranger, or smile at someone I  should do it.  It won't hurt anyone, it might even help someone out.  So I should act on promptings to help others.  I should act on those little tinges that tell my to spend time playing with my kids instead of plopping them in front of a movie.  I should TELL my husband I love him instead of just thinking it.  AND when I get a feeling, that is a GOOD feeling, that won't hurt anyone to act on it, like "maybe you should take your ring off", I should be in tune enough to know that all good things DO come from God- I should do it.   I think I make the mistake of thinking Heavenly Father isn't interested in financial issues or material things...and maybe He isn't....but He is interested in ME.  And that little thought, the little prompting, wasn't because He was worried about precious gems sitting on the bottom of a lake without anyone to enjoy them.  The prompting was for ME; so that I wouldn't have to feel the angst and guilt and what-ifs that have plagued me for 4 days. 
I will probably have to be reminded again, but for now, I think I get it.