My Metro Diary in the NY Times

This is fun: The New York Times printed my Metropolitan Diary today. Third story down, here.
Metro Diaries are snapshots of special moments, written by New Yorkers and submitted to the Times. Not for pay, nor special recognition; just for the love of it. Though technically, I can now say, “His work has been featured in the New York Times.”
Here’s the story, along with an original illustration by Agnes Lee.

Dear Diary:

I was waiting with my children at a B103 stop on Fourth Avenue in Brooklyn. My daughter, who was 6 at the time, found a gold ring on the ground. Even I could tell that it wasn’t made of cheap plastic. Maybe an engagement ring?

“Someone lost their ring,” my daughter said.

“They probably need it back,” my son said.

Later that day, we returned to the bus stop and taped up a flier: “Found here: Lost gold ring; clear gem. Text me a description and we’ll return it to you.”

Two days later, a text arrived. The young woman who sent it said she had recently been dumped by her long-term boyfriend.

The ring was a gift from him, and in what she said was a moment of healthy self-awareness at the B103 stop, she had decided to drop it right there.

When she did, she said, she felt a huge weight lift. She didn’t want the ring back, she added, but it was kind of us to offer.

I read the text to my kids. A long conversation about love, marriage, heartbreak and moving on ensued.

“What should we do with the ring?” I asked.

In the end, we returned to the bus stop, where my daughter placed the ring under a chunk of concrete so that it could stay lost.