my rings

I've always worn rings. In high school. In college. After. One of the rings I wear my mom gave me, it's silver (all my rings are silver) and it makes a circle, with an opening, on top of my finger. In the summer I'll get a tan line around it, and when I take it off there is a tanned circle inside the white outline of the ring. Not sure why, but I always sort of love that tan line. In high school I never took my rings off, maybe only during field hockey and lacrosse games because I was forced. In college I took them off even less. I'd sleep in them, I'd shower with them. Really, they were always there. I've worn the circle ring for upwards of twelve years - whenever I get together with my friend Jenn from high school she muses over that fact, remembering it from high school. A second ring I've worn for about eleven years, it's my high school class ring. I went to a small private all-girls school and just about every girl got one. I think I'm the only one who still wears hers. It's simple, a silver ring with a black stone in the middle. On the right side it says "LS" for Lincoln School, on the left side it says "98" and stone itself is engraved with the helmet of Athena, the greek goddess of wisdom. Underneath it is engraved with my name. For our school the rings were symbolic, you received them in your junior year and wore them with the helmet facing in. On graduation you flipped your ring around, with the helmet facing out - letting all your wisdom lose into the world. Or something like that. The third ring is the newest, only about 5 years old or so, and is my college ring. It's daintier than the high school ring, it's white gold and has a small ruby stone in it. Our school colors were red and white, and a ruby also happens to be my birthstone. Around the stone it says Clark University. On the right side it says "02" and on the left side it says "BA". Underneath it is engraved with only my initials, it is too small to fit the entire name. I've worn these rings everyday for a long time. Until just under a year ago.

As I said, in college I never took them off. I slept in them, I showered in them, everything. Some years later I decided I couldn't sleep in them, and I started taking them off at night. And also to shower. Like a normal person. Just under a year ago, I woke up in the morning, got ready for work and made a conscious decision to not put my rings on. I don't even know why, but I remember thinking I wasn't going to wear them. And I didn't the next day either. Or the next. You get the picture. I've brought them places with me, they still get packed in bags for overnight trips. But I've not worn them. I forgot to pack them when I went home for Christmas, and I felt a little worried when I realized I didn't have them - but I'm not sure I would have put them on.

Yesterday, as I was doing my normal Sunday thing - errands and such - I put them on. This morning, when I got ready for school, I put them on. Again, I'm not sure why, but I did. And now, my hands look like my own again!