Saturday, July 12, 2008

The Saga of the Ring

I wish that I had a good story to tell. Better yet, I wish it was an epic like Lord of the Rings. And even beyond that, I wish I had a happy ending. But I don't. It's just a regular story with a predictable ending. The title of the blog is probably the best part. So, with that encouragement, read on!

Back in late May I added to my list of things to do "get ring cleaned". The jeweler where Joel bought my engagement & wedding rings cleans them and checks them for damage, etc... every 6 months. That way if I lose my diamond or something, they will replace it for free.

But, the weeks went by and I never made it up to the jewlery store--it's on the north end of town. Finally, I realized that even if I didn't make it to the store, I should probably get my rings off my finger.

My rings are sized appropriately to my finger for the seasons of spring & fall. This is when the temperature stays the same and my hands do not shrink (like in the winter) or swell (like in the summer). I think my fingers vary by at least a ring size over the year.

Usually, I can get my rings off in the summer with a bit of work. This time I was able to get my engagement ring off. However, my wedding ring was no match for the swelling brought about by pregnancy. There was no hope. I tried everything. Even Windex. My mom said it worked for her, so I tried it. I tried hot water, cold water, raising my hand above my head for over an hour...I tried everything. No luck.

In late June, my mom suggested I wait until our family reunion over the 4th of July in hopes that my uncle, a great chiropractor, might be able to help. He tried. He gave it a valiant effort. He tried adjusting my finger and when that didn't work, he suggested a bowl of ice water.

Have you tried submerging your entire hand in a bowl of ice water? I mean water with ICE in it? It was excrutiatingly painful. The worst part? It didn't work. Not even close.

The verdict? Cut it off.

The ring, not my finger.

So, I did. I finally made it to the jewelry store. Turns out, they see this kind of thing all the time and even have a neat little tool for doing it. The ring is off my finger and it's a good thing I'm not superstitious about things, because it would be easy to be about this. "The circle of our love is broken" or something like that.

Not so much.

My rings will just have to stay in a nice little box--my wedding band still cut--until this fall. Thankfully they will put it back together again and resize it for free.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Brrr! For our child birth/labor refresher course they had us stick our hand in bowl with ice 2 or 3 times for 1 minute each time. We were to think of different things to see which thought helped reduce the pain of the ice water. This was to remind us what to think about durning labor. The nice thing is thay also had our husbands hold their hands in the ice water. :) Glad you were finally able to get your ring off. I know several people who wore theirs on a necklace for the last trimester. Not much longer.

I need to get mine cleaned as well . . . I think my six months were up about 18 months ago.

my3boys said...

Hey! We had to do this in our childbirth class too! Kind of a good exercise.

Jeni said...

haha!!!! You're funny!