It's official! I'm married again!

Today it’s official! I’m married again! Ha ha, let me explain.

This is my wedding ring. It’s a simple gold band with an imperial topaz bezel-set into the band.

This ring was custom-made by a jeweler friend back in 1989 when Don and I got engaged. I’ve always loved in, in large part because (a) it’s simple; and (b) the bezel setting meant it never catches or snags on anything.

Over ten years ago (specifically, July 22, 2013), I got stung on my ring finger. It swelled up rapidly, and I had to take a fast trip to a jeweler’s in a nearby town to have the ring sawn off my finger. Talk about feeling undressed without it!

Trouble is, this incident happened when our finances were prioritized elsewhere. Having the ring repaired was low on the list of things we could spend money on.

But things have stabilized for us since, and last fall I went to a local jewelry store and got a quote for how much it would cost to have the ring repaired. The resident expert looked it over carefully and said it had a number of issues besides the band sawn in half. The bezel setting was torn, the stone was loose, and the act of removing the sawn ring from my swollen finger had weakened the band. All in all, quite a complex repair job.

We got the estimate and saved our pennies, and late in December we dropped the ring off for repair.

For four months – four months! – the jeweler worked on the ring. Apparently it was a lot more complicated than he anticipated, once he dove into the nitty gritty. He was facing “porocity” problems. The ring had gas pockets from things being too hot or dirty during the original casting. The area around the bezel top kept collapsing like a sponge, and he had to back-fill the area before putting the bezel back on. Or something like that. (I’m not a jeweler, so I might have the details wrong.)

It was such a complicated repair, in fact, that the jeweler would get discouraged, drop the project for a week or two, then pick it up again, only to get discouraged all over. Rinse and repeat.

But finally, finally, we got the call that my ring was done. Don picked it up and was delighted to learn that the jeweler stuck to the original estimate, even though the price of gold has skyrocketed since then AND he spent weeks and weeks on the detailed work necessary to rebuild the ring.

The bezel is a touch higher than its former incarnation, but the ring feels solid and secure. The glint on my finger keeps catching my eye and I’ve been grinning like an idiot.

Finally, after ten years, it’s official. I’m married again!