From MemoryArchive
Who: Shannon Siberski
What: Oklahoma City Bombing
When: April 19, 2005
Where: Chicago, Ill.
I moved to a suburb of
Chicago in the winter of
1995. It was my first move with my
fiancé Rick. It was much harder than I expected. I moved to a big city without a job or knowing anyone. Rick was there for me as much as he could but he just started a new job with an hour commute. We were living in temporary housing courtesy of his company until we found a place to live. So, there I was in a new city in the middle of winter day in and day out. I was looking for a job but that took about an hour a day. By the end of the second week I was in a BAD rut. All I could do was work out for a half hour a day. I guess I was
depressed,but didn't know it at the time. A cleaning service was included with the housing package that came once a week. The woman who came was very nice and I would leave while she did her work. On April 19, I had gotten up late and the maid came when I was unprepared. She brought a friend that day to help because she said she was behind in her work. As I was getting ready to leave, she called me into my bedroom to retrieve the money that was on the dresser (less than $5) saying she didn't want any misunderstandings. At the time I couldn't figure out why she made such a big deal out of a few dollars. I took the money and left. I returned home just as the two
maids were leaving. I flopped on the couch and watched
TV for a while until I got this urge to check my bedroom. I went in there to look for my
engagement ring, which I took off every night then put back on after my shower. Needless to say I had not showered that day so I didn't put my ring back on. It was nowhere in sight. I looked everywhere to no avail. I was freaking out!!! I still had the TV on at the time and was sort of aware of the
bombthat went off in
Oklahoma City. My fiancé came home, I got hysterical and we both looked for the ring. We both knew it was stolen but kept looking anyway. We finally sat down and started watching all the horrible images of hurt people and babies being carried to safety. It finally started to sink in with me what a horrible event had occurred. After a few minutes Rick turned to me and said, “I guess diamonds aren’t forever!” and we started to laugh. Yes, we were laughing at how insignificant my diamond was compared to the suffering going on right now in Oklahoma. We fully realized that material things mean nothing when we had each other.
