Saga of the Engagement Ring
Okay, so if you are friends with me on Facebook, this is a bit of old news, but 2 weeks ago, I was doing something with my hands and realized I felt a snag on the back of my ring finger. Further inspection revealed that my engagement ring had indeed BROKEN. Literally snapped in two in the middle of the "shank" (the official name for the band part of the ring). . I figured it might have something to do with the fact that the ring has been re-sized once and the fact that in 22 years, my finger just might have put on a little weight. Only my fingers though...not the rest of me (NOT!). Anyway, the sweet man at the local jewelry store assured me it happens because of years of wear, especially on the palm side of the shank.
Getting it fixed was not the cheapest thing in the word, but I couldn't wear it broken, and it's too valuable to leave sitting in a jewelry box, so fixing it was the only option. They did a beautiful job, and it looks good as new- all clean and sparkly. But the first time I went in to get it, it didn't fit at all, not even with the old Windex trick. Seems my finger just might have gotten a little bigger since I bought the ring, and the girl who filled out the claim ticket forgot to size my finger so the jeweler knew what size to make it. After taking it up a full size, it finally fits perfectly. If only the rest of my body was just one size bigger than it was 22 years ago! The new shank is nice and thick, and should last another few decades :-).
I have to say, I still love my ring every bit as much as I did the day we bought it. The center stone was my great-grandmother's, and it was my mom's when she was married to my dad. It's European cut, so it has more facets. The original ring had an oval center stone, but we swapped out that one for mine. Here's a funny story. When we first were deciding on the ring, we put it on hold. When we went back in, they couldn't find it on hold in our name, but had it under a different name. The store ended up getting a second ring in- one for us, and one for the mystery "other person". Know who that person was? Totally unbeknownst to EITHER us or them, my husband's frat brother and ROOMMATE had gone ring shopping with his soon-to-be fiance, and they had chosen the SAME ring! Imagine our mutual surprise. Of course, she had the oval center stone. Sadly, their marriage did not last, but as a final bit of coincidence, the guys ended up with the same wedding band as well :-).
Getting it fixed was not the cheapest thing in the word, but I couldn't wear it broken, and it's too valuable to leave sitting in a jewelry box, so fixing it was the only option. They did a beautiful job, and it looks good as new- all clean and sparkly. But the first time I went in to get it, it didn't fit at all, not even with the old Windex trick. Seems my finger just might have gotten a little bigger since I bought the ring, and the girl who filled out the claim ticket forgot to size my finger so the jeweler knew what size to make it. After taking it up a full size, it finally fits perfectly. If only the rest of my body was just one size bigger than it was 22 years ago! The new shank is nice and thick, and should last another few decades :-).
I have to say, I still love my ring every bit as much as I did the day we bought it. The center stone was my great-grandmother's, and it was my mom's when she was married to my dad. It's European cut, so it has more facets. The original ring had an oval center stone, but we swapped out that one for mine. Here's a funny story. When we first were deciding on the ring, we put it on hold. When we went back in, they couldn't find it on hold in our name, but had it under a different name. The store ended up getting a second ring in- one for us, and one for the mystery "other person". Know who that person was? Totally unbeknownst to EITHER us or them, my husband's frat brother and ROOMMATE had gone ring shopping with his soon-to-be fiance, and they had chosen the SAME ring! Imagine our mutual surprise. Of course, she had the oval center stone. Sadly, their marriage did not last, but as a final bit of coincidence, the guys ended up with the same wedding band as well :-).
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