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Saturday, July 26, 2025 at 9:24 PM

Is This You? Important Life Questions

For some reason I seem to be hard on chains. Not big ole log chains used to pull a truck out of the snow with another bigger truck. No, little delicate girly chains for necklaces. It was my other half that would, at least ten times a day, tell me the clasp of my necklace was in front and it needed to be scooted around to the back of my neck. I figured that if I didn’t have to keep spinning the chain around, it would last a lot longer. But! Yes, a 14k gold “but.” At each spin of the chain the clasp grows weaker until “Tink” it comes apart. 

A big fear with wearing jewelry is losing jewelry. Something hanging around your neck on a little golden chain has probably an 87% chance of getting lost into Never-Never Land when it breaks. Sometimes you catch it and save the day, sometimes…

When I sold my very first article to Country Woman Magazine some forty-five years ago, and being the girl I am, I wanted to buy something that would always remind me of the day that check came in the mail. With my name on it as payment for writing. It was a pretty cool thing.

I chose a 14k golden baby ring and put it on a thin golden chain. It was pretty, fancy and all about me. I wore it for a long time. Everywhere, with everything. Not a lot of dressing up in life for me, so that chain and baby ring made me feel special. 

Until winter one year. The snow was deep and ice was below the snow and wind was above the snow. That combination made wearing a winter coat and scarf part of the outside apparel. One February day I took off for town in the snow and blow to retrieve the mail. Under the coat, scarf, hat and mittens I wore a t-shirt and my ever-present necklace. You should know that as special as it was to me, it was worth about fifty bucks’ tops. The check for that first story I wrote was for $75. 

Got to town, a ten-mile trip, picked up the mail at the post office and slipped a bit when I got back into the truck. That must have been when it happened. That slip, jerk and slide must have got the necklace caught on the scarf where it then broke and fell off. From there it had to have slipped down the inside of my coat, off the leg of my Levis and down into the slushy street. Sad story, isn’t it?

I didn’t notice the absence of the baby ring and chain until I unfurled myself at home. Oh I looked down at the floor. I went inch by inch through the layers of winter garb I’d just removed. I retraced my steps from the back door out onto the deck, across the back porch to the garage. Sniveling all the way to the truck. Hoping with each step that something would glisten up to my eye and all would be right with the world. Nothing! My prize was gone forever.  I still, in my mind, see it laying in the snow in the gutter in front of the post office. Being carried down to the storm drain by the melted snow down the pipes and finally ending up in the sewer ponds that I pass every time I go to town. Either there or it fell off and fell between the deck and the house and someday when I am gone, someone will build a bigger house here. They will have to move the deck away and there it will be laying in the dirt. Baby ring and golden chain a glint in the sun.  Oh it’s somewhere. One of those things I will ask The Big Guy when I get to heaven. 

Finally. That’s where I wanted to go today. What are some of the millions of questions we all want answers to when we die and meet our maker, whoever that may be to you. I want to know where I lost that necklace. I want to know why grass grows in my flowerbeds but flowers do not grow in my lawn. I want to know why, dear Lord why, everything that tastes so danged good is usually so bad for me. Ben and Jerry’s toffee coffee ice cream, fresh baked bread smeared with the wonderful apple butter I was given to from Izzy and Misha—uh the apple butter. Or my grilled rib eye steaks and TACOS!

Yeah, that’s about as deep as I go.  I wonder, what would your questions be?

Trina lives in Diamond Valley, north of Eureka, Nevada. She loves to hear from readers. Email her at [email protected]

Really!

 

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Comment author: Mike HinzComment text: I knew Sam as a member of our church growing up. He always had a warm smile, a kind word, and a great sense of humor! He will be great missed!Comment publication date: 7/2/25, 11:57 AMComment source: Obituary -- Samuel Bruce WickizerComment author: Mike HinzComment text: Great teacher, great coach, but even a better person!!! Rest in peace Mr. BeachComment publication date: 7/2/25, 11:53 AMComment source: Obituary -- Jack Victor Beach, Jr.Comment author: Mike HinzComment text: I had Mrs Hedges for First Grade at Northside Elementary in 1969. I still, to this day, remember her as a wonderful teacher…one of my favorites!!Comment publication date: 7/2/25, 11:29 AMComment source: Obituary - Nancy Marie Hedges C Comment author: Carl C. HagenComment text: What are MFNs and PBMs ?? ............................ From the editor: This is a very good question and we apologize for not catching that wasn't in there. We reached out to the writer/submitter and got this info back...hope it's helpful. PBM: Pharmacy Benefit Managers are pharmacies that are owned by insurance companies. (CVS is one.) They negotiate with drug makers to get reduced pricing for medications, but they historically have not passed along those savings to patients. https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/pharmacy-benefit-managers-staff-report.pdf MFN: Most Favored Nation pricing is a policy that means a country agrees to offer the same trade concessions (like tariffs or price reductions) to all member nations of the World Trade Organization (WTO). When applied to pharmaceuticals, it could disrupt global access, deter innovation, and obscure the deeper systemic issues in American health care. https://petrieflom.law.harvard.edu/2025/05/22/the-global-risks-of-americas-most-favored-nation-drug-pricing-policy/Comment publication date: 6/23/25, 7:47 AMComment source: L E T T E R TO THE EDITOR
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