Engagement Ring
My boyfriend gave me the ring three months ago and even after re-sizing the jeweler had to add two small platinum bumps to the inside to help it stay in place. I took it off when I did yoga or the dishes or my hair or when I rubbed lotion into my hands. At night I nestled it into a cushioned box. Sometimes I forgot to put it on in the morning. Those were the good old days.
Now it’s stuck. The two bumps dig into the sides of my knuckle and I have to hold my breath and bite my lip to withstand the pain of removing it.
Until last week I had been able to forcefully traverse the knuckle skin and slide the ring free. But my finger has thickened in resistance, the bone perhaps growing a callous where the ring’s bumps grooved it. I tried soap and water, I tried Vaseline, and still the ring nearly pulled my finger from its socket and the knobs carved paths in the bone.
I’ve been wearing the ring for over a week now. I worry I will forget the pleasure of a naked finger. I worry that I will damage the ring with use or with the chemicals in my styling cream. I worry my finger will swell and turn purple in the night and be dead by morning. I worry the jeweler will be unable to solder it (the ring) to the wedding band designed to curve around the diamond.
I take comfort in this: my fingers will shrink again in winter. I could probably shrink them now by resting them on a bag of frozen peas for twenty minutes. So in the end, really, there’s no need to panic. This is all just a matter of the capillaries in my fingers filling with blood to keep them cool.
Now it’s stuck. The two bumps dig into the sides of my knuckle and I have to hold my breath and bite my lip to withstand the pain of removing it.
Until last week I had been able to forcefully traverse the knuckle skin and slide the ring free. But my finger has thickened in resistance, the bone perhaps growing a callous where the ring’s bumps grooved it. I tried soap and water, I tried Vaseline, and still the ring nearly pulled my finger from its socket and the knobs carved paths in the bone.
I’ve been wearing the ring for over a week now. I worry I will forget the pleasure of a naked finger. I worry that I will damage the ring with use or with the chemicals in my styling cream. I worry my finger will swell and turn purple in the night and be dead by morning. I worry the jeweler will be unable to solder it (the ring) to the wedding band designed to curve around the diamond.
I take comfort in this: my fingers will shrink again in winter. I could probably shrink them now by resting them on a bag of frozen peas for twenty minutes. So in the end, really, there’s no need to panic. This is all just a matter of the capillaries in my fingers filling with blood to keep them cool.
