Our department has recently started a program called "Aggies Coming Together" to boost moral in the department. Every so often an event is planned for the staff and coaches so we can get together and have a little fun. Last month we were excuse a few hours early from work so we could go watch and cheer on the women's soccer team as they played in the afternoon. Today we got together at lunch time for some batting practice on our baseball field and to enjoy some pizza.
We have some really good hitters among our staff...of course we are the Athletic Dept but I felt really lame with my hits that only made it as far as second base at the most...but it was still a lot of fun. So after hitting some balls, hanging out in the dugout for a little bit I headed up into the stands to eat some pizza and hang out with some of the other staff. At the end of the hour as we were all packing up I decided to step up on the wall separating the stands from the field so that I could yell down into the dugout and thank our baseball coaches for a fun event. There is also a huge black nylon net separating the field from the stands and I used that as leverage to get up onto the wall. After I said thank you I went to jump down and I felt my engagement ring snag on the net. Instinctively I looked down and my whole diamond and its setting was gone!!!
I started yelling, "My diamond is gone, my diamond is gone!" and the few people still in the stands with me started looking around with me. The people on the field started scouring the area right under the wall where I jumped off. There was some padding on the field side of the wall and gaps where my diamond could have fallen...luckily they were removable so off they came but no diamond. Unfortunately there was also an open drain on the field right below where I was and so the slats came off and people started looking in there too. Another misfortune was that because it is Fall there are a lot of dried leaf piles around and because we are on a baseball field there were a lot of spit out sunflower seeds in the stands. So as I am looking in the stands I am trying not to be too grossed out about these disgusting seeds as I am carefully sifting through the leaves.
I decided to go to the field side of the wall to see if I cannot help look there while others stay in the stands looking for my diamond. We search and we search...we recreate my jump off to try and figure where the diamond could have gone and start thinking that the net could have acted as a sling shot and shot the diamond somewhere which makes our search area even bigger....ugh!!
In the mean time baseball practice is scheduled to start and so more and more student-athletes are arriving but as each of them arrives they each start searching for my diamond...how nice is that? So in no time I have about 20 to 25 people looking for my diamond but still nothing! By now I am back in the stands looking and it has been about 20 or 25 minutes and I start trying to joke about the situation by saying, "Well at least my diamond is on the baseball diamond" or "Well it has been over 10 years...perhaps I am due for new one.". All the while I am dreading having to tell Adam and so sad that my diamond it just lost because it is like looking for a needle in a haystack.
I decide to lift my head up off the ground and what do I see but about 20 student-athlete baseball players lined up on the ground in a perfect line on their hands and knees in the grass and methodically combing through the grass as they move in unison through the grass searching for my diamond. It just warmed my heart so much that I start yelling out thank you to them! The assistant baseball coach takes a picture with his phone (which as soon as I get the picture I will post because it was a great sight to see). Then as they are about to get to the boarder of the grass and dirt one of the student-athletes jumps up and yells "I found it! I found it!" and I couldn't have been more happy or thankful! I thanked everyone over and over again for staying for so long to search and it truly was an example of "Aggies Coming Together".
Just as I was about to leave work I emailed the baseball coaches to thank them for looking so long, for interrupting their baseball practice, and to let them know that I really appreciated the effort their student-athletes put into finding my diamond. Ironically, the student-athlete whose idea it was to get the other players in a line to look on their hands and knees was the one that found my diamond in the end...how fitting.
So now I have take my diamond, which is still in its complete setting to the jeweler and have them put it back together. Adam set the diamond in platinum, which is stronger than gold, when he bought it because he knew I have a knack for getting my rings or jewelery for that matter caught on things. Little did he know that it was possible for me to rip the whole setting out of my ring...but I guess it is a good thing it is still in its setting which made it easier to find.
