Posted on 08/12/2010 6:28:37 AM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
When Matt Cawley popped the big question to girlfriend Stacey Scanlon, it's fair to say it could've gone better.
"Just another chapter in the book," said Cawley. "I was like 'Here we go!'"
"I feel like it's a story that'll be passed along in our families forever," added Scanlon.
They're talking about the loss of a $9,000 diamond engagement ring -- a family heirloom.
Cawley's plan was to surprise Scanlon with the ring during a romantic walk along Lighthouse Jetty in South Yarmouth on Monday morning.
He tied it to a big sand dollar with some string, slipped it onto a rock when she wasn't looking, and then slyly called her attention to it.
She grabbed the sand dollar, but the ring tumbled into the rocky nooks of the jetty -- and vanished.
"You could just hear it go -- click, click, click -- down through the rocks," said Cawley, a 30-year-old from Dedham who works in his family's restaurant. "I knew it was gone."
"It was just a freak accident," lamented Scanlon, a 31-year-old schoolteacher from Needham. "I don't understand why it happened to us. It's one of those things 'Why us?'"
The panicky couple summoned beachgoers, lifeguards -- even Tom Flynn with his metal detector.
But four hours of searching proved fruitless.
"It was good even though we didn't find it," says the retiree. "Everybody helped. That couple will come back here on their anniversary and say 'That's where our ring is!' It was quite the human interest story."
The couple's relatives -- waiting back at the house to throw an engagement party -- were left to wonder.
"They were worried because we were gone so long," said Cawley with a laugh. "Either thought she said 'No!' or they thought we got a room."
They chuckle now, but admit to tears then when the emotional freefall hit them.
"I was excited to think he was proposing, but then nauseous because the ring was gone," said Scanlon. "It was just a million feelings at once."
Cawley just shakes his head. "I asked her 'Did you at least see the ring?' And she said 'No!'"
But Cawley still uttered the key question as they made their way back from the beach -- ringless -- and Stacey said "Yes!"
"We came to our senses after and realized its not about the ring," said Scanlon. "It's about getting married and starting a life together."
Now Cawley knows why his Mom scolded him so often as a kid about climbing on those rocks.
"And now 30 years later she's saying 'I always told you to stay off those rocks!' So listen to your mother."
Good idea. Because last Friday, Matt's mother, unbeknownst to him, went ahead and insured the ring -- just in case.
My buddy who got married earlier this summer lost his wedding ring on his wedding night. As seems to happen a lot when large groups of wrestlers and alcohol get together, he started wrestling another guy on the dock. Midway through the match he looked down and noticed his ring was gone.
Luckily the bride knew what she was getting into when she married him and took it well.
“How do you know it wasn’t appraised?”
I don’t. But who owns the ring once it goes to her son? Does mom even have a legitimate insurable interest in the ring at that point? Pretend auto insurance wasn’t mandatory. It would be like taking out an insurance policy on my car just before giving it to my son. I think much of what I find suspicious is her not telling the son about this new insurance.
If the issue was mom worried that son wouldn’t or couldn’t buy insurance, then it seems this would be better addressed upfront by saying “I’m happy to give you the ring, but would feel better if it were insured. I know insurance is expensive, so I’ll buy the policy. That way I’ll feel better and you will too if it ever gets lost.”
What a great idea to do that with a $9k family heirloom. Moron.
You’re buddies with Tickle-Me-Massa?
No....
Lots of guys who wrestled for most of their lives. Once drinking starts who will win best two out of three takedowns requires a match.
Exactly my thought when I read the story. Run, Stacy, run.
Well if she insured it before giving it to him then it was technically still hers. I think there is a possibility this is an insurance scam as well. It could also be a legitmate claim that just LOOKS suspicious to us. I was just teasing about all the cynics.
Anyone who spends $9000 on a pretty rock deserves to lose it.
About 3 months ago I was called for jury duty. The case was a woman suing the insurance company. It seems she had “accidentally” flushed thousands of dollars worth of jewelry down the toilet and the company declined to pay.
In voir dire, her attorney wanted to know if I would be prejudiced by the fact that her fiance had previously been convicted of insurance fraud. I assured the attorney that I would be completely impartial.
And I would indeed have been impartial. But I wasn’t gonna be fooled either. I think the attorney picked up on that and I was thanked and sent home.
If this is true...it sounds like a Robbins Brothers ad gone horribly, horribly wrong.
I saw this little gem and thought you might like it. LOL!
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2569642/posts
Drunks are fun!
lol!
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