ANOTHER LOVE STORY

After remembering Eleanore and Mitty's Love Story, my thoughts now wander to yet another Love Story.

It all started with a slim gold wedding ring and a text message. “Hey! Mom!  You know that thin gold ring you gave me a long time ago?  The inside is  engraved  . . . TIFFANY . . . and there is more engraving that’s Nov. 3, 1914 PGL to LMD . . . what’s the story behind this???   It’s AWESOME!!!

Lucy Mary D.

Paul George L.
playing poker with Paul George L.

We were traveling in the car.  My husband of 31 years was driving, as I read the two text messages from our daughter out loud.  He immediately suggested his grandparents.  As their last name began with a "D".  I said, “no way, your Mother only gave me one piece of jewelry and it’s in the safe deposit box.  That ring came from my mother’s things.  Remember when she died and my sister kept both Mom’s and Gram’s diamond rings, and gave me that box of “junk” jewelry?  The ring I gave Lisa in High School was from that box.  Humm. . . PGL to LMD.  Paul George L. to Lucy Mary D? ” That would be my grandfather to my grandmother back in November of 1914.  At that time they lived in a small coastal town on the Jersey Shore.   Could this small ring be telling us their Love Story?  

In 1914, to buy a Tiffany ring Paul would have taken the train to NYC from Long Branch, well over an hour’s ride.  Not to mention, maybe also a ferry ride each way to get to New York City to buy a wedding ring.  From the size of the ring he obviously did not have much money, but he wanted to give Lucy a good ring and is seemed only Tiffany’s would do.  To confirm the story, when we returned home later that day I called my Aunt and Uncle.  Yes, Paul George L.  married Lucy Mary D. November 3, 1914!

We will never know if Paul  really did travel to New York City to purchase the slim, gold ring for his beloved.  No matter how he acquired the ring, this is the way I choose to remember them both.  Sadly, I never met Paul as he died when my mom and her brothers were young.  As a young widow, out of necessity, Lucy, our Gram, went on to be a full time working mother and career women at a time when very few women left home to support their families.  

Lucy

I promise to share   Lucy's remarkable story on another day.  It was only by chance that I passed the slim gold ring to Lisa.   I am thankful that by doing so, we uncovered Lucy and Paul's Love Story.