Mother has shocking past
Losing a parent is an extremely hard experience at any age. But especially when you’re young, it can hit even harder. On top of that, kids often have to deal with a lot of administrative nonsense.
Several things need to be sorted out, especially when people die young; they usually don’t have everything ready and documented. This means the children are often left with the task of organizing the inheritance. It’s not uncommon for those surviving the deceased individuals to discover things they could never even imagine about their parents. So, this happened to Lydia.
Intense discovery
This is the exact situation Lydia went through when her mother died suddenly at a young age. She thought she knew her mother through and through but finds something that uncovers things about her past that she could have never expected. She was in shock when this information was made public.
It happened when her mother’s ring that she had worn for 25 years broke and Lydia unsuspectingly took it to the jewelers. With tears in her eyes and a broken ring in her hand, Lydia went to the local jewelry shop. She was alone in the store with the jeweler. Lydia told him why she was there and hoped that he could repair it. The jeweler immediately recognized the ring, even before he could think about the reparation at hand, he knew…
Lydia was in disbelief
The jeweler immediately knew where he knew the ring from. He had seen it before. But when he told Lydia where it came from, she couldn’t believe her ears. Her jaw dropped and she didn’t know what to say. How could this be? Had her mom been lying to her all this time?
Lydia had so many doubts and questions about her mother, herself, the past… She didn’t know where to start. But maybe it sounds like she was overreacting up until now. To help you understand where she’s coming from, we’ll give you a bit of context first. Read more below!
Who is Lydia?
Lydia has been happily married to John for years. They live a normal, ordinary life, but have some financial difficulties. They can barely make ends meet, and while it works out every month, they have to work hard for it. But Lydia is used to this mindset.
Her adult life wouldn’t be the first time Lydia has dealt with trials and tribulations. In her youth she went through a lot which made things tough on her. She grew up as an only child without a father which made her relationship with her mother especially tight. They were two peas in a pod because they had to get through everything with just the two of them.
Father unknown
As we mentioned before, Lydia’s father never really played a role in her life. Her father left her mother when he found out that she was pregnant. As you can imagine, this had a huge impact on her growing up.
At the time, Sara, Lydia’s mother, was in a relationship with the father but they weren’t married. This made it easy for him to walk away from Sara and their unborn child. While Lydia never got the chance to know him, she could never forgive him.
Hardworking women
Lydia saw her entire youth as a challenge she faced alongside with her mother. It was mother and daughter against the world. When Lydia was at school, her mother worked two jobs to make ends meet. Once Lydia was old enough, she got a parttime job to help her mother out and earn some extra money.
For years, day after day, it was a difficult battle, but slowly the future seemed to be getting brighter. But because the two only had each other to rely on for so long, they formed an unbreakable bond. Sara never found another man. She didn’t feel like she needed to and simply didn’t have time.
Lydia falls in love with John
Lydia however, did need a man in her life and consciously made time for one. At that time, she met her boyfriend John at work. Lydia quickly knew that the connection they had was special. After just a few months, the two made big plans. But what they didn’t know, was how big of a challenge they were about to face.
Using the money that Lydia and Sara had saved up, Lydia was to move out on her own when she was ready. Sara had done everything in her power to give her only child the best life she could possibly have. But then something happened that Lydia could have never imagined…
Sara becomes extremely ill
When Lydia turned 24, Sara suddenly became very ill. And even after excessive searching, doctors couldn’t figure out exactly what was wrong with her. Sara’s condition worsened and Lydia felt completely helpless while she watched her mother get weaker and weaker.
The money that Lydia and Sara had saved up for Lydia’s future was now being used for Sara’s treatment. They tried everything but no treatment seemed to be working. It only took a few weeks before it became clear that Sara wasn’t going to make it.
She isn’t going to make it
Throughout the entire time she was sick, doctors were unable to figure out what was wrong with Sara. The only thing they could do was help treat her symptoms and make sure Sara lived out her last weeks as comfortably as possible. Meanwhile, Lydia had to prepare to say goodbye to her mother and best friend.
Obviously, this was an extremely difficult time for Lydia. The person she needed the most support from couldn’t be there for her anymore. Lydia had lots of preparations to make, she was an only child and the only family member Sara was in contact with.
John was Lydia’s rock
The sorrow that Lydia carried in the weeks leading up to her mother’s passing was almost unbearable. If you knew her, you’d think it was a miracle that she hadn’t fallen to pieces. But the thing that kept her going was the help she got from her boyfriend, John. He stood by her side through every difficult step of the process which made the couple even closer.
Once her mother had passed away, there was lots to do. There was the funeral of course, possibly the hardest part of all. It ended up being a quiet gathering with a small group of people. Sara’s sister was present at the open-casket service. And when Sara’s sister saw her, she made a comment that caused quite a stir.
Sara’s ring was missing
Sara’s sister noticed that Sara wasn’t wearing her ring. It was a ring that she always wore. With everything going on and everything that needed to be sorted out, Lydia hadn’t even thought about it. But unfortunately, it was now too late to search for it.
Lydia also didn’t think it was that important at the time. She had enough on her plate with her own sorrow and wouldn’t have had any way of knowing how close she was to it then. It would take her a while to figure that out…
Dignified farewell
First, it was time to commemorate her life. The funeral was quiet, but Lydia was able to say goodbye to her beloved mother in a dignified fashion. She was still crushed by the situation but because she had been preparing to say goodbye for weeks leading up to her death, she slowly began to make peace with it.
If she knew what was going to happen after the funeral, she might have seen things a bit differently. It started when the inheritance had to be sorted out. Sara never got rich and before she passed away it had been decided that Lydia would receive everything she had. But there was really just one thing that Lydia really wanted to find.
Searching for the ring
Lydia hadn’t forgotten Sara’s sister’s comment from the funeral. She knew she needed to find the ring because this was her mother’s most sentimental belonging.
Just like Sara’s sister had mentioned, Sara wore the ring nearly every day. Once Lydia finally found it, she was ecstatic. But it turned out to be more of a curse than a blessing. She knew that the ring had a story, her mother always told her that she had stolen it…
The story of the ring
Sara said that she had stolen the ring when she was 12 years old. At the time, she worked as a cleaner. This is how she made money, not much, but enough to keep the household going.
Sara had always spoken highly of her work as a cleaner. While she quite young to be working, most of the homeowners that Sara worked for were good to her. They were kind to her, and she enjoyed spending time with them while earning her money.
Sara was abused
However, there was one woman Sara worked for who wasn’t good to her. In fact, she acted horribly toward the girl. For no reason, it seemed. And it wasn’t always in the form of words. The woman hit Sara when she did something that wasn’t to her liking.
Because Sara was dependent on the money she received from the woman, she allowed the abuse to go on for months. She had no choice, she had to keep earning money. But it started to take its toll on the young Sara.
The stolen ring
Because of this, Sara was constantly looking for other houses to clean, or different work entirely. And once she had finally found another house to clean, she immediately quit. But right before she left, she stole the ring. It was her way of taking a bit of revenge on the woman who had treated her so poorly.
Lydia had always believed the story and loved hearing it as a child. The story made her see her mother as a truly powerful woman, a fighter who didn’t let people take advantage of her. It was an example that she always wanted to follow. But in the end, Lydia would find out that this wasn’t the full story…
Lydia proudly wore the ring
To honor her mother and everything she stood for in life, Lydia decided to wear the ring with pride. Almost all of her other belongings were put into drawers or in the shed. Other things were sold off over time, but the ring stayed.
While Lydia loved her mother’s story, she always had a voice in the back of her head that wondered if it was the full truth. It seemed strange and like a bit of a stretch. On top of that, her mother had never struck her as someone who would break the law by stealing… Something was off. But she decided to not think too much about it and kept her mother’s memory alive by wearing the ring.
Alcohol problems and first child
In the time after her mother’s death, Lydia became an alcoholic. John was extremely worried by this, but a pregnancy solved the problem at once. During her pregnancy, Lydia wasn’t able to drink and after the first child, Sammy, was born, Lydia turned to healthier outlets.
Lydia worked out very frequently and kept this up for years. Even once Sammy had moved out, she kept going. To clear her head, she decided to go for a jog one afternoon. She was in good condition and was proud of her lifestyle. But while she was deep in thought, Lydia wasn’t paying attention and tripped over a broken branch. She managed to catch herself, but the fall had broken her ring…
The jeweler
Lydia went home with a broken heart and a broken ring that was still on her finger, but no longer in one piece. She had hoped that her husband would be able to repair it, but he let her know that it was probably better to go to a jeweler. She went the same day because the jeweler had reassured her that he would be able to fix the broken ring.
He also let her know that repairing the ring wouldn’t be expensive. This was important to Lydia because she and John were still struggling. Lydia wasn’t at all prepared for what the jeweler said to her once he had taken a good look at the ring…
A small community
Lydia and John lived in a small city. It was the city where Lydia and her mother had always lived, and the place where she met John. She had never had a reason to want to move. There was only one jeweler in town and had been there for decades. She had never been in the shop and suddenly understood why…
Lydia suddenly remembered an interesting conversation she had had with her mother when she was young. Her mother had forbidden her from going to the jewelry shop. She had never thought much of it as a child, and her financial situation as an adult didn’t allow it. She had also never given much thought to her mother’s ring. She didn’t know her mother without it.
Jeweler explains the situation
Lydia told the jeweler the story of the ring as she had heard it from her mother, but he explained to her that this couldn’t possibly be true. According to her story, her mother would have stolen the ring in 1952, but the techniques used to make the ring weren’t discovered until 1968. While he was telling the story, he realized something…
He walked to the back to find something and brought out a small, old book. It was a catalog from 1968. He flipped through the pages of the book and turned it to Lydia who couldn’t believe what she saw on the page. It was her mother’s ring! The jeweler explained that he recognized it because he often went through the store’s archives when it was slow and had made a strange discovery.
Stolen, but not from a woman
The ring had indeed been stolen, but from the jewelry shop in 1969. Even the serial number matched up. Lydia couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Why would her mother have stolen the ring from this store? But then it sunk in…
1969 was Lydia’s birthyear, the year that her father had left Sara. She already didn’t have much, but the birth of her baby forced her to steal in desperation. And then the jeweler said something that made Lydia’s heart melt.
She was allowed to keep the ring
The jeweler let Lydia keep the ring. The theft had taken place so long ago that there was nothing they could do about it anymore. He realized that the ring had lots of sentimental value to Lydia and even offered to repair it for free.
Lydia was overjoyed. But she continued to wonder what other things her mother might have stolen. And what else she didn’t know about her mother. But she also knew that she would have to make peace with the fact that she wouldn’t find all the answers. What she did know, however, was that her mother would do anything for her. And that made the ring extra special.
