69 : Take Off Your Ring

My beautiful ring. I had loved it from my moment it was placed on my finger. Not just because it was a gorgeous diamond (although it was!) but also because of what it represented. I wasn’t the girl who always dreamed of getting married. Certainly I wanted that in life, but I never could quite picture it. And then I met the guy and he proposed and I thought I had my happily ever after. Until now. For a while, I continued to wear my ring. I wasn’t ready to admit to myself or to the world that my marriage was really over. But over time, I began to see the ring itself as a lie. I saw it as a reminder that my marriage had failed. It made me feel bad. I hadn’t planned to officially stop wearing it, but then one day I left the house by accident without it on. I had gone out for the night , and survived without my ring. It was scary and liberating at the same time. I left it off my finger from there on out. What it represented was no longer true. A friend told me there was no right or wrong, but when the time was right, I would know.  And I did.  I may not have liked what was happening in my life, but I reached a pointed where I wanted to be honest with myself and others around me. Our marriage was over. I took the ring off for good. Life would go on.