By Frances Bryce, May 21, 2020 — I know what I was going to talk about: One of the things [my mom] always wanted was a diamond ring and a fur coat, right? So after she died I learned that my niece had recorded her wishes I guess. The memo was she had one ring and fur coat. I wouldn’t need a fur coat because I lived in California. I have a sister so she was trying to decide who she should give it to and that wouldn’t work, and then I had a brother who had two nieces so that wouldn’t work. So my youngest brother had one daughter, so she got the ring.
And then when I found out I said, “I never wanted the diamond ring and so why did you think I may have wanted it?” and I thought it should have gone to my sister because she was the one who stayed with my mom, you know the last day. So, to fast forward, I found out that when my mom was staying with me for a while and she didn’t have her ring and I said, “Well, why don’t you wear your ring?” So, she called and sent it. She thought maybe I was interested in the ring, which I have never been interested in a diamond ring or fur. That’s how the story ended up, and I told my brother who has the youngest daughter, so she got the ring. And I said, “You should let her know that the only reason she got that ring was because my mom thought I may have wanted it and she didn’t want to give one the ring and not have,” and so he never did and she never did. So that was the end of that story, but I always felt heavy about it because I knew my sister would’ve appreciated it. She loved rings and diamonds, and I didn’t. So that was my story.
Well, my mom was about the size of my sister, and of course, she lived in a place where they had a different climate. So in South Carolina, you ain’t have a real winter and a summer. So it just made sense that she got the fur coat, which would’ve been too small for me in the first place, and was totally something I didn’t want, and the season didn’t permit me to wear it. So she got the fur coat, but she should’ve gotten the ring too because she really [had] gotten the ring, and it would’ve been a great thing because she spent most of the time with my mother. And my mother only made that decision because she didn’t want to give one, she didn’t want to decide if I should get the ring or my sister should get the ring. And there shouldn’t have even been that question aroused.
It’s… I know that I didn’t want it. So that’s how things go. And I said, “One ring and two daughters.”
And my niece had made the video of how she was anguished because she couldn’t decide who to give it to. And so she finally said to my niece who was recording it, “Oh. My youngest son. He has only one daughter, so that would settle that.” But I thought if my brother had said to his daughter that, “Your aunt should’ve gotten that ring,” she probably would’ve done it.