Ring Tome

The wedding band is considered a sacred piece of jewelry. It can represent a lot to someone who is married. To me, having my wedding band on is a true representation of how fragile being married can be.

When I purchased my wedding band I chose to get a comfort fit. What this means is that the inside of the ring is beveled so that it does not cut into your finger. What it also seems to mean is that it slips on and off a bit too easily. I can attest to this happening more than once to me.

On my Wedding Night…

It is a bit disheartening to find that your wedding band that had been placed on your finger less than twenty-four hours before is somehow no longer on your hand. Fortunately I found the ring under my pillow after much frantic searching. After our honeymoon I had the ring sized down so that it would not be so loose. It was also after this time that I started the habit of pulling my ring up into my hand by with my thumb.

After Grocery Shopping…

Many of you are familiar with the drill after going grocery shopping… you put away the groceries and at the same time go through the refrigerator to throw away those items that are questionable. Well… it was sometime after I was done with that after-shopping routine that I noticed my ring was no longer on my hand.

Looking back on the activities leading up to that time, I knew I was doing a lot of throwing away of things— and not just gentle throwing either. I do remember one time, a long time ago— I flung the garbage bag into the garbage can and heard my ring clang on the sidewalk next to the garbage can. It took me several minutes to actually find the ring that time.

I also knew I was doing a lot of cramming into the kitchen can to stuff as much garbage as possible before I took it out to the outside can. There was another time when I was shredding papers and I felt the ring slip off my finger when I was pushing the shredded paper further down in the can. So the possibility of my ring slipping off my finger into the garbage was not out of the question. With these two scenarios fresh in my mind I methodically went through all of the garbage in the can picking out each piece of garbage from each bag and transferring it to a fresh bag.

After and hour of going through all of the garbage and scanning the entire kitchen area, I had to start thinking that perhaps it fell off somewhere else. Feeling quite dejected the next day I almost gave up on trying to figure out where the ring was. It was at that time when my wife handed me my ring. Surprised, I asked where she found it. "Under the bacon in the freezer" she said. That made a lot of sense— not only did the ring slip off because my finger was smaller, but I must not have noticed it because my hands were numb.

Last week…

By the time I went to take the dog out for his morning walk, I tried tucking my ring onto my hand and noticed that it wasn't there. I knew that it wasn't in the freezer because I hadn't been in the freezer that day, and insisted that I remembered having it on the night before.

Being thorough, I decided to go through the garbage only to find that it wasn't there either. That only left the bed— but I was running late, so I'd have to search for it after I got back from work.

I do not know how many times I tucked my phantom ring into my hand over the day. I got home and immediately started going through all of the blankets and sheets and pillows on the bed. I even went so far as to take up the mattress and search under the mattress. After about an hour of doing this I started to realize that the ring was not lost in my sleep overnight and I started to give up on ever seeing the ring again.

It was at this point that my wife came up the stairs and tossed me the ring (Why is it that my wife finds the ring). I asked— and she said she found it while sweeping under the kitchen table. Now I think I know what happened… earlier that morning I was getting a bowl of cereal for my wife when I fumbled with the bowl and spilled some cereal on the floor. I must have tried to catch the bowl and the ring fell off my finger.

One would think that three strikes and you're out. I would much rather think that the third time's a charm and that I will never lose my ring again.