I was setting up our campsite, at a very rustic campground, and was scrubbing down the picnic table. I saw what I thought was a little chunk of glass stuck between two of the boards. I pried it out and discovered it was an earring. It had an old-fashioned yellow gold setting with a screw back and a white stone.

I asked the campground manager if anybody had reported having lost an earring and he said no. He also told me that the site I was camping at hadn’t been used in over a year because of some trail improvements that were being done. So, whoever lost it, it had to have been quite a while before then. He told me to keep it, or throw it away; he wasn’t concerned about it.

When I got home, I took the earring to a jeweler. It was such an expensive looking setting that I suspected it might be a real diamond. It was! In fact, it was a full carat, nearly flawless, white diamond! She guesstimated it to be worth around $2000.

I kept the earring for several years and, finally, had the diamond set into a ring.

I have proof that being a neat freak has its own rewards! :)