The Divorce Ring One of the blogs I regularly follow is TYWKIWDBI. He recently posted about divorce rings, which the BBC article he quoted from is hailing as a "new" fashion statement. Honestly, I think having stones from your engagement/wedding rings reset post-divorce is probably not a new thing but I will let the BBC have their moment. Anyway, reading his article made me think about my own divorce ring. It wasn't made from old engagement ring diamonds because I never had an engagement ring. We were broke, broke, broke phi broke when we were first starting out. He did ask later on when we were better off financially if I wanted a ring but I thought the money would be better spent on fixing up our house. And then a few years later I got a surprise divorce. I thought we were going to Vegas for our anniversary but a couple months before that he announced it wasn't me, it was him, he'd changed, etc., etc., and he didn't want to work through anything because nothing would change his mind. Well, shit. NOT what I was expecting! We started going through the process although I was always thinking this must just be some early midlife crisis and he'd come to his senses eventually. I would just make the best of things until then. Part of going through the process was him buying out my portion of the house - I could not afford it on my own so I planned to move into my own little place. You know, until he came to his senses. (He never did and I'm still in that little place I moved into!) Even though I was making plans and trying to get on with the very confusing turn life had taken I was definitely in a funk. One day while websurfing, I noticed that one of the sites I liked to frequent, Diabella Loves Cats, had put up a new section. She was helping someone out by providing a spot on her site to post some jewelry items for sale. I believe this person was trying to raise money for vet care for her cat. I was scrolling through the jewelry and then I saw it. The Ring. It was SO pretty! It was a beautiful platinum diamond ring. I had never in my life owned something like this. I am not the greatest photographer and couldn't catch the lovely flash of the diamonds but trust me, this ring is a sparkler. I was feeling such a way about things and I had just received the house money so I was temporarily flush. I emailed Diabella and told her I wanted to buy it. I also mentioned what I was going through (I don't remember why but sometimes when you're hurting you just want to tell everyone) and said that I probably shouldn't be spending the money on the ring but I just had to have it. This lovely woman was so kind in her reply. This happened 23 years ago and I didn't keep the email but what she said was very positive and along the lines of this being a wonderful new chapter in my life and that things would turn out well. At the time I couldn't see it but you know what? It did end up being a new beginning and I am a lot better off today. I will forever be grateful to her for that e-mail conversation. Side view to admire the decorative shank and openwork on the sides of the diamond mount. When I first started using Zonelets I had Disqus set up as a commenting system but it looked obnoxiously ugly and I ditched it. Some people are happy to not have blog interaction but I'd love to hear from you if you have any thoughts you want to share! You can respond through my guestbook or email. If you found this link on Discord or the 32-Bit Cafe Discourse, you can message me there or leave a message on my Neocities profile page.