When several rounds of a little game I like to call Lookin' For My Stuff At Local Pawn Shops failed to produce my wedding rings from the bevy of bagged bounty missing after the burglary, I was left without any proof that I was married and argued that this meant my practice marriage was officially over and I could start dating again. The KingofHearts seems to think there is a statute of limitations on such things and disagreed. My wedding rings were actually in the house at the time because I haven't been able to wear them since The Caterpillar was born without having them resized, and well, me = lazy. Also, me = stupid.

My original engagement ring diamond, we bought at a diamond show. It was modest, but of very good quality and unusual. We designed the rings to go with it and I liked them. They were pretty, had meaning, and a cool inscription. I know that if I'd even suggested it, the KoH would have bent over backwards to replace the rings in whatever fashion I wanted but once we got the check from the insurance company, a paid off car seemed a whole lot more attractive to me than a new wedding ring. Call me a romantic. So instead we used the dough to create one less monthly payment in our lives. Be honest, you think that's hot too, don't you? No? Just me? Okay then... moving on.

Anyway, I didn't intend to replace the rings at all. I hadn't worn them for over a year and have never been very good with jewelry. But then I thought I'd get one cheapo one so I could have one when it seemed appropriate. And then I found about a katrillion rings online that I liked and couldn't make up my mind. So I decided instead to have a collection of cheap rings that I'd wear as a wedding ring. This way I could switch things up and wouldn't worry too much about losing them or banging the stone into a granite counter top and breaking it or getting it stuck on my finger by banging it with a hammer and putting it out of round. In my life, all of those things have occurred at least once.


I happened to find this tension ring for $3.98 on ebay and a little while later, picked up this little eternity ring to dress it up a bit - $2.79. They're just sterling silver with cubic zirconia stones. Ka-ching! In both cases, the shipping cost more than the ring. I like them both a lot. They're much more modern than my other rings and I'm less likely to catch a setting like this in my hair and get my hand stuck there while driving. So they're safer too!

Yesterday, while at an office lunch, a friend sitting next to me noticed the rings and asked me about them. So I explained and we started talking about our jewelry. And because we are both girls, we started taking off our rings and passing them to one another for inspection. She told me the story about how her original wedding ring was lost entirely when she was visiting her mother and put them in a box to wash dishes... her mother threw the box away later and she never found them. So she has replacement wedding rings too. My boss noticed our little scene from the other end of the table and when she asked what we were doing, our reply was, "Oh, we're just commenting about how neither of us has our original wedding rings."

"Yes, but both of you have your original husbands. That's a lot less common."