So, Tuesday night, I took off my tungsten wedding ring and looked it over.
When we first got together, STBEW and I were just kids. I was 17, and she was 19. I could only afford a $100 kMart bridal set. I didn't even have a ring for the longest time; we ended up getting me a small silver band for $11.00. I wore it until it broke.
For our 10th anniversary, I designed a ring that we had looked at that she had wanted when we first got together; a princess cut ruby with four marquis cut emerald chips to make it look like a rose, set in white gold. I took her original ring from her jewelry box (where it had been for two years since the band of the cheap gold had worn through) and had them pull the 10 1/25 kt diamonds from it and drill set them into the band. I hand picked the stones and worked directly with the stone setter for placement and setting. It's a beautiful ring. She wore it only a handful of times.
I, on the other hand, went out and picked my own tungsten band. She wasn't interested in coming with me or giving input; I figured she was just tired or stressed or whatever. For the second time, I took care of my own wedding ring. Should have been a sign.
We plan on selling off her ring and using the money to pay down our mutual debt before we finalize the divorce. That's fine for me. I paid $3700 for it in 2012, I don't know how much it'll be worth now. I know I won't get what I paid.
My tungsten ring was of little value; I think I paid $80 for it.
I was rolling it back and forth in my fingers, admiring how shiny it was; no scratches (because it's tungsten), heavy, solid... everything my marriage should have been but wasn't. My marriage was broken.
So I took it out into my workshop, I put it on the ground, and I smashed it with a hammer. It shattered like glass. I took my silverworking tools and some 20 gauge wire and I made myself a new ring out of silver chainmaille. It fits snugly onto my right ring finger, not the left. The left ring finger gets to stay bare now. She keeps wearing that fucking white gold and diamond starfish pendant they gave her as THEIR symbol of our shattered relationship, now I proudly wear my own.
She's noticed but hasn't said a word about it.
Whatever. When I look at the shattered pieces of the tungsten ring that I gathered up and left on my jewelry table, I am both incredibly sad, and at the same time, determined.
Fitting that I should replace a solid, brittle collar with a piece of shining silver armor.
I am going to do something that I haven't done since I started writing shortly after DDay1. I am going to sit in my chair in my freshly cleaned room and read; The Book of Five Rings, a martial and spiritual guide written by Miyamoto Musashi, the greatest swordsman to have ever lived in Japan.
[This message edited by Incarnate at 1:51 AM, August 30th (Friday)]