Pat Kelly remembers his dad's maroon leather jewelry box. As a boy, he'd peek in the velvet-lined box to see cuff links, tie clips and college rings. It's about all he has left of his parents. His father died when he was 9; his mother, 15 years later.

"My brothers and sisters and I would rearrange and tidy up his jewelry box every now and then, and how happy it would make him," he wrote. "In retrospect, I doubt it made things more organized for him, but he sure did appreciate our efforts."

Kelly didn't figure himself to be the marrying type, so he paid little attention to the wedding ring, which went into the box, "although I would take it out and finger it once

in a great while," he wrote. "I always noticed my Mom and Dad's initials inscribed on the inside, and their wedding date."

But he did find a bride, and he decided to try on the ring. It fit perfectly.

"It has been on my hand ever since our wedding," he wrote. "Our initials and wedding date (are) right next to my parents. And despite the distance and time they have been out of my life, I still feel their parental guiding hands helping me through my life with my family and raising my children, hopefully, as well as they raised me."