What Makes Something Valuable?

A few hours ago I decided to go swimming with my roommate. I got down to the pool and in the locker room I discovered I was missing something. My CTR ring was gone. I tried to talk myself out of the panic I felt coming on and decided that there was nothing I could do at the pool. I would just have to wait until after I was done there and could get back to my apartment and see if I had taken the ring off before I left to go swimming.

Nobody panic, I found my ring on my dresser. Before I got home though as I was driving I told myself that if I couldn't find my ring I would just go and get a new one, but that wouldn't have made me feel any better. I started to think about what makes something valuable to us. Is it how much we have spent on it? Not for me. For me it is the memories/experiences I have had with it. Another CTR ring, even if it had been exactly the same wouldn't have worked.

Just out of curiosity I got onto the Distribution Center's website to see how much CTR rings were, this is after I had mine on my finger again :). I found many different styles of rings and many different price ranges:

This ring and the two above it were $20

This is a 14k gold ring and it costs $175 with the discount!

This is my ring. I think when my mom bought it for me she spent $14.

I can still remember the day I got it. I was going to have my birthday at Girls Camp and although I was excited it felt weird. I had always spent my birthday with family, ALL the family :), and not being able to be with them was hard. I didn't think that anyone would remember that it was my birthday because we were doing so much at Girls Camp. Little did I know that they had planned a special birthday celebration for me. They had made cupcakes, my mom sent up presents, balloons, and candy. One of the presents was my CTR ring. I was so excited to have a CTR ring that wasn't green and didn't make your fingers turn green that I put it on immediately. It fit perfectly and has stayed on my left hand for several years until a couple of moths ago when I decided to try it on my right hand. I didn't want people to think I was engaged if they only took a quick look at my left hand, but I didn't like it so it is back on my left hand :) It has had a special place on my left ring finger for as long as I have had it. When I put it one, even if I put it on straight it moves over into its spot.

Ever since I got this ring I have had this dream that the man I marry will propose by asking if his ring can take the place of the CTR ring and that his ring will have an engraving of "CTR" in it. I know this is stupid and it sounds even stupider written down, but in my mind it seems romantic :D.

My CTR ring is worth so much to me. I look at it and remember all of the wonderful, and not so wonderful, times I have had with it on. To me that is what makes something valuable, not the price, but the memories you have.