Carmen Ghia
Resident Hopeless Romantic

A california woman’s treasured gold necklace survived an incredible journey when it was accidentally flushed down the toilet in October. Sanitation department workers found it and have returned it to the woman. Ann Aulakh had worn the Italian gold Byzantine chain every day — “basically all the time except when getting X-rays,” she said — since her husband Jeet gave it to her during their first Christmas together in 1993.

But one sleepless night in October it fell off her neck, into the toilet, and was flushed down the drain. She thought she’d never wear it again.But her friend and neighbor Lynn Kemmeter, a former elementary school teacher, called the San Rafael sanitation district and reported the necklace missing in the sewer pipes.

Kemmeter, whose civic-minded attitude inspires friends to call her “Citizen Lynn,” hoped that the necklace might somehow be recovered.And she was right: The department found the necklace and told Kemmeter, who had hoped to wrap it up and deliver it to Aulakh, also a former teacher.

But sanitation worker Bill LeNoue beat her to it and knocked on Aulakh’s door early February 1.“He asked, ‘Did Lynn lose a necklace?’” Aulakh said. “I said, ‘No, but I did.’ He held it up, and I was in shock. I mean, the kindness was incredible.”The necklace is a bit worse for the wear after the months it spent away. The clasp is broken, and though Aulakh soaked it in hydrogen peroxide, she’s still planning to get it professionally cleaned. But she said she was excited to have it back in time for her 19th wedding anniversary which was Feb. 13, 2012.

I hope that losing something very special, and then finding it again, is not an emotion that only a woman can understand. I would really like to believe that this is a universal feeling.

That necklace symbolized a moment in her marriage that meant so much to Mrs. Aulakh that she wore it around her neck every waking day (and apparently, night). So, regardless of its actual worth, losing it would be the equivalent of losing a piece of yourself.

When something that treasured gets returned to you, wherever it’s been, it’s priceless. Even if it’s been somewhat damaged, any amount of repair gets trumped by what it means to you.