My Wedding Ring

22 years ago today, Sept. 9, 1989, I married my best friend.  As I was sitting at my desk at work today, I was looking at the wedding ring he gave me and thinking about all the years we've been together.  When we got married, we didn't have much money.  Who does?  So my ring, by today's standards, is very simple and understated.  But it is a one of a kind, quite by accident.  He bought the engagment ring at one jeweler's and we found the band at another. And he didn't have to go into debt to purchase them. The stones are sapphires, my favorite stone and incidentally, it is the birthstone for the month of September.  That wasn't planned...it was just a coincidence.  I had originally picked out a single pearl ring to be the engagment ring for a couple of reason.  1.  I am not a big diamond fan and 2. I wanted something entirely different than the traditional solitaire.  But after months of thinking about that pearl ring, I decided that since I was so clumsy I would most probably knock that pearl off its setting the first time I wore it.  So we started looking around again. And we found the engagment ring.  He proposed in April of 1989 and slipped that ring on my finger.  I remember the night in early September when I went to pick up the wedding bands before the wedding.  His band does not match mine.  Again, we wanted to be different.  Even though I knew it was considered bad luck to put on the wedding ring before the wedding, I wanted to see the two together on my finger.  So I put it on and spent the drive home admiring how well they went together, even though they were from different stores.  As corny as this sounds, that's the way I felt about us...how well we went together.  I've had the ring for 22 years now.  I've never owned ANY jewelry that long!  I got it caught on a fence the week after our honeymoon and twisted the band and lost a sapphire. I cried and cried. It was repaired and you can't tell the difference.  I don't wear it around the house to avoid repeating that episode.  I couldn't wear it when I was pregnant due to the swelling in my fingers.  Then I gained so much weight that I couldn't even get it on my finger.  (One of the things I'm most happy about since I joined Weight Watchers, is being able to wear my wedding ring again.) When we hit our 20th anniversary, I thought about asking him for a bigger, more modern ring.  But then I looked at mine....and I can't do it.  It reminds me of who we were when we were just starting out.  It reminds me of where we came from.  It reminds me how perfect we are together and a new, modern ring just wouldn't do all of that.  In my heart, it would not be MY wedding ring.  It would be a replacement.  And I don't want a replacement.  It's too big now, and will probably wind up really to big for me when I hit my WW goal.  The band is a little twisted  but that doesn't matter. I'll have it sized down when the time comes.  And I'll wear this ring that my best friend gave me for the rest of eternity.