Just when you think you’re out, they pull you back in. I love Mercer Island, but I rarely have a reason to come back. My mom, Diane, visits Mercer Island more than I do as she takes karate classes at Z-Ultimate Self Defense Studio each week.

She also makes the trek to Kirkland to see me, have lunch and spend some time with her grandson each Wednesday. Normally, we have lunch and then she plays with my son for a few hours while I catch up on house work. Last week we were all set to have lunch when she called me to say she was going to be late. It was not a big surprise.

But when she arrived, she was in tears. She had lost her wedding ring the day before somewhere between karate class and home.

Now my mom losing something is not cause for surprise. Not even her wedding ring. I figured that she set it down at home and just forgot. As we pulled out of the driveway, she began to tell me the story of how she was late for class, took it off and put it in a pocket in her bag. She wasn’t sure if she zipped the pocket. That made me nervous, and I immediately got on 405 heading south.

I don’t get to Mercer Island very often and really did not have enough time to do this. But it was my mom, and it was her wedding ring. At this point, I only had an hour until I had to be back. I also knew I might be fighting Blue Angels traffic.

The thought occurred to me that if it fell out of her bag, it could just be lying around anywhere. It could be in the parking garage, lying on the sidewalk, or even in the street. The longer it remained there, the more chance that someone would find it. Now I worked on Mercer Island for eight years. I was not as worried about the wrong person finding it as I would be if it were somewhere else. But then again, you never know.

Even if a kind person found it, they may not know what to do with it.

Do you take it to the nearest business? Do you take it to the local newspaper? Do you take it to the police?

We drove into the parking garage and parked. The first thing my mom wanted to do was go ask her sensei if they had found it. She was a bit frantic. I got out of the car and looked down. There it was. Right at my feet. Resting in the darkness near the white parking stripe. As if it had fallen out of her bag when she put it in the car. Needless to say, my mom was ecstatic to have her ring back.

We made it back in time to get my son, and they got to enjoy the sun.

It was a good return to Mercer Island.