It was a good day to lay in a supply of groceries. It was snowing and the weather was threatening to worsen. But after all, this was Fargo and this was January, a place and a month where and when storms have been known to occur.
Tracy Maulding is from Montpelier, N.D., but works in Fargo. On that day last winter, she pulled into the parking lot of Sunmart on 25th Street South and went in to shop.
This was the newly engaged Tracy Maulding, sporting her new engagement ring and, at that time, looking forward to Oct. 15 when she'd be married to Jason Babcock of Fargo. But on this day, she was just intent on getting some groceries before a storm hit.
For Tracy, however, storms in her life were nothing new.
When she was 14, she was diagnosed with lupus, a disease in which the immune system attacks its own tissues. It went into her joints and muscles, made her swell up, reduced her energy, flared, went into remission, then flared again, over and over.
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Tracy has seen doctors in Jamestown, N.D., Rochester, Minn., and Fargo. She is on heavy medication.
She was homebound during most of her Montpelier High School years, but she did so well with her homework and through tutoring that she graduated with honors.
She attended the University of Mary, Fargo campus. The university gave her a scholarship and a grant, but her illness flared and her parents, Daniel and Judith Maulding, had to bring her home after four weeks. She later enrolled at Valley City (N.D.) State University, did a business internship in Jamestown, made the dean's list and graduated in 2003.
Last December, with the lupus affecting her kidneys and with other complications, she was hospitalized, then put on medical disability for four weeks.
Tracy, now 27, has had to increase her medications, and they've sapped her energy. As a result, she felt it was best to postpone the wedding until she was better able to take care of all the preparations. She spends much time resting so she can retain her job at Navteq where, she says, she has "a great manager and team," which allows her to be flexible in getting in her hours.
But back in January, she was concentrating on just getting those groceries into her car.
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It was a chore, because the snow had covered the trunk while she was in the store.
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She brushed the snow away. But her hand was thin from her disease and cold from the weather, and her ring slipped off her finger.
She hunted through the snow. Nothing. People she didn't know came up to help. Nothing.
She estimates a dozen kind strangers tried to help find the ring, shoveling the snow into containers, then painstakingly sifting through them. Still nothing.
Tracy's family continued to search the lot and the piles of snow for days and weeks, even when the snow began melting last spring. But the ring was gone.
Her family tried other ways to locate it. They put pictures of it in pawn shops and in other stores in the Sunmart shopping strip.
But as of today, the ring hasn't been found.
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Tracy and Jason's wedding is still on hold, pending her physical improvement, although a new wedding date has been tentatively set for Oct. 14, 2006. Meanwhile, she'd love to get her ring back.
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Another ring could be bought to replace it. But the original one, of course, is the best one.
It's a princess-cut single stone with a yellow gold band.
Her mother is hopeful someone has the ring, not realizing the importance of it, or maybe someone has a clue as to who else might have it.
Her parents are offering a reward for its return. Her mother can be contacted at the Montpelier school, where she teaches. The phone: (701) 489-3348.
Can you help?
If you have an item of interest for this column, mail it to Neighbors, The Forum, Box 2020, Fargo, N.D. 58107; fax it to 241-5487; or e-mail blind@forumcomm.com
