$9000 family heirloom lost during proposal

This is all over the news, and I can't believe that everyone is focusing on the cost rather than the meaning. Rings can be replaced, but imagine losing a family treasure! Here's the story:

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.

The couple's relatives -- waiting back at the house to throw an engagement party -- were left to wonder. [It's rather presumptuous to throw a party, but it's a thoughtful idea] "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."

Cawley just shakes his head [over the incident]. "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!"

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 cynical opinion - insurance scam. Or this guy is hopeless at predicting the future. Jewelry and beaches to not mix!

-KB