Wednesday, December 10, 2008

The Wedding Band Situation

No, this is not about what I should do with my wedding band, or more importantly, my engagement ring, both of which have been sitting uselessly in a drawer since my split with S. Although, come to think of it, this is an issue I've struggled with. What to do with them? The wedding band I'm not so concerned about--it's a tiny thing, not worth much. The engagement ring isn't worth a whole lot either, relatively speaking, but it does have a diamond in it, and it does have some worth--it seems a shame to just leave it sitting in a drawer. But what are my options? I tried taking it back to the place where we bought it from--of course, they weren't interested in buying it back. Some people have suggested I should have the diamond made into something else, a necklace or something, and I have considered this . . . but something about that rubs me the wrong way. I'm not a superstitious or even very spiritual person, but taking an engagement ring diamond and repurposing it just screams of bad karma to me. I could try selling it on eBay . . . but in reality, that sounds like something I would be too lazy to actually follow through on. And the karma thing comes into play there again--I mean, who buys an engagement ring on eBay? That just seems so . . . wrong.

Anyway, as I mentioned, that's not what this is about. This is about current wedding bands, and about people, specifically men, either wearing or not wearing them. And what inspired this particular topic? Well, let me tell ya. . . .

A few weeks ago, I took a trip to Houston, and I had a layover in Charlotte, NC. I was on my way to a wedding/family reunion-type deal, by the way, but that's not relevant to the story. The story is this.

While sitting in the boarding lounge in Columbus, I noticed this certain guy. That's not unusual--I'm a big people-watcher, and airports are, of course, prime venues for this particular activity. (Also, EVERYONE is a people-watcher at airports, right?) Anyway, I watch a lot of people, in a general sense, but when I see a decent-looking or good-looking guy, I tend to hone in. Come on, it's natural. So I'm sitting in the boarding lounge, and I notice this decent-looking guy. He's sitting right across from me, reading. I'm reading myself, but every now and then I look up, check out what he's up to. Every now and then, we make eye contact, and he sort of smiles, looks back down. This goes on for a while, until it can't be categorized as anything other than silent flirting. And I can tell you one thing for certain--this guy was NOT wearing a wedding ring.

You have to believe me on this. This is something many single women tend to notice immediately, whether we're interested in a guy or not--checking out the ring finger is almost an involuntary action, an impulse you don't even think about. This guy? No ring. Also, no visible tan lines around where a ring might have been. We notice these things as well.

So, fast-forward to the Charlotte airport. I get off the plane, wander around the terminal. Stop in to a snack shop. Find my gate. Sit in the lounge, start reading again. Look up, and there's Mr. Decent-Looking, sitting across from me again. (Coincidence, by the way? Stalking me? I have no idea.) And guess what? Suddenly, he's wearing a ring.

So, the wife lives in Houston, I guess. He takes the ring off often enough to have a tan going on underneath it. He didn't feel the need to put it back on until the last leg of his flight.

Seriously? I know I'm overly sensitive right now, still experiencing fallout from the RWBF situation, but I've felt recently that I just want to go live on a women's-only island for several months. Men suck.

(Apologies to my many decent male friends. I'm not talking about you guys.)

4 comments:

Sven Golly said...

No, you're right, we suck too.

David said...

Hmmm.
Well, the guy could be a sneaky jerk. This is the more likely scenario.

Or maybe he took it off in the bathroom while washing his hands or going through a metal detector (maybe his band is very expensive and more metallic than mine?) or maybe . . . aw, I give up.

I never take mine off, even when washing, so I can't relate.

As to the other question of what to do with yours . . . I like the idea of repurposing as a necklace. It's better than nothing.

Anonymous said...

My ring continues to sit in the console of my car, where it has lived for the last 3 years.

For the record, I used to take mine off to go to the gym, as I did not at first, and it got radcially warped. After I got it fixed, I started to remove it when I went to the gym.

In a fun little case of history repeating, when I took it off to go to the gym, I would put it in the console of my car.

Also, as much as I love David, I have to adamantly say "Do NOT reuse the diamond." As a poor college student, I repurposed a diamond from my mother's collection to create a brand new engagement ring. My feeling at the time was "Fuck bad karma." I was focused more on the intent of the ring than the origin of the diamond.

We all know how that turned out . . .

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