Lost and Found: The Tale of a Ring

And lost, and found, and lost, and found, and lost, and found...repeat ad infinitum.

I've mentioned my ring habit before, and was recently asked to do a 'ring update' post, which felt appropriate, since I've lost 1 and gained 3 rings since my last post about rings. Let's start by talking about the troublemaker on my right pinky.

Pinky, stainless steel: This was a Christmas present I picked out for myself, and I did a bad job picking out the right size, because although it seemed like it fit in the store, it's a rather loose fit and this ring has a habit of falling off regularly. It falls off while I'm sleeping almost every night--Angel always makes the bed in the morning and finds it somewhere in the sheets or on the floor and puts it on my dresser for me to put it back on. This ring has also fallen off in the car, at the mall, in the movie theater, at the bowling alley, at the park, and at the grocery store. Somehow, each of those times, I have felt or heard it in the course of its attempted escape and have found it and put it back on again. I'm impressed that it hasn't been permanently lost in the 5 months since Christmas. I know one of these days it probably will disappear forever, but so far I've always managed to find it, so it's a good thing I'm getting it documented before it's inevitable disappearance. I will be sad if and when it does leave me for good, but it won't be a devastating loss, since the ring cost less than $5.

Ring finger, sterling silver: A birthday gift from my sister Lizzy--18th or 19th birthday, I think? Purchased from a local Malaysian jewelers--a little shop where we've enjoyed getting to know the ladies who run it over the years.

Middle finger, both rings are sterling silver: The top one was a gift from Lizzy. She bought when she lived in Israel, and it says "Rachel and Anna" in Hebrew. The bottom ring I bought for myself in Cambodia last summer.

Index finger, stainless steel: My longest-worn ring, I bought it for myself summer 2009, because I had this friend, Angel, and his mom had given him a spinner ring for his college graduation and I thought it was really cool. So I bought one for myself. This was also really cheap, on the $5 level, a perfect fit, and has been really comfortable to wear all these years. Warning: spinner rings are addictive, purchase at your own risk.

Index finger, sterling silver: I purchased this one for myself in Cambodia last year.

Ring finger: Top, rose gold, a gift from my parents for my college graduation.
Middle, white gold, my engagement ring, purchased in 2011 when we'd been married 9 months. haha!
Bottom, white gold, my wedding band, 2010, Angel's parents gave us both of our wedding bands as their wedding gift.

Those are my rings at present. Am I done? Probably not. I'm never opposed to adding to the collection. I'm a little picky, though--my rings have to be tough, because I rarely take them off, so they have to be able to stand up to hard usage. I don't like stones (other than my milestone rings), or any other design that will catch on things. I generally prefer silver in color, which is why most of my rings are stainless steel or sterling silver. Rose gold is another favorite color, but then that makes for a much more expensive ring, so that's why I haven't acquired any more rose gold rings yet. I purposely don't wear rings on the finger next to my wedding set to avoid scratching or damaging those, but I'm thinking of stacking one or two more skinny bands on my right hand whenever I stumble across the right ring.

On another note, do you know how awkward it is to take photos of your own hands? I performed a scientific study, and found that on a photography awkwardness scale, it hasn't quite reached the level of 1) X-rays, 2) Kissing photos, or 3) Photos taken of you while you are giving a speech....but it's still pretty high up there. That's why I included every single one of the 4 photos I took of my rings in this post, even though just two could have gotten the job done, because I wanted you to have the same experience of awkwardness that I did. You're welcome.

Tell me about your rings!