DEAR ABBY: I just finished reading the letter from "A San Diego Widow" and had to respond. My husband of nearly 35 years passed away a few months ago. Needless to say, it has been the most devastating loss I have ever experienced.
Within a couple of weeks of his death, a piece of the emerald in my wedding ring broke. The insurance company sent me to a wonderful jeweler to make repairs. I brought along my husband's wedding band, thinking he could make it smaller so I could wear it. Instead, he suggested that he make a heart out of it and, after replacing the stone in my wedding ring, take the broken stone and reshape it into a teardrop hanging from the center of the heart.
I now wear this simple yet beautiful heart next to my own combined with the original stone from my wedding band. Its emotional value is priceless. I never take it off and feel that part of my husband is always with me. -- ONE OF MANY FLORIDA WIDOWS
DEAR ONE OF MANY: What a touching story. And the fact that the stone within the heart is "broken" speaks volumes. Please accept my sympathy for the loss of your beloved husband.