Life is Just a Bowl of Rings
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A well-lived life has certain earmarks. One of those is a good collection of rings.
Some you have never worn, some you wear seldom, but some you wear everyday.
They stand for timeframes, relationships, events, milestones. They’re important.
Most people begin life as a little baby. When they’re christened, they get their first
ring, a tiny little size 1 or 2 or 3. Look in your baby book. I’ll bet you have one or
two.
Then the school years come, and at graduation, you get a class ring. If you’re lucky,
you get a high school class ring and a college class ring. Along the way, you become
friends with the opposite sex. One day you find yourself in your first love
relationship, and you get a promise ring. Maybe you promised someone to wait
until marriage with a purity ring. Maybe you gave your heart to someone with a
ring with a heart design.
Things progress and you find a job. You buy a house, a car, some furniture, and--
some jewelry. You become established and your thoughts turn toward starting a
family. You buy an engagement ring and ask someone to marry you. When you
marry, you get another ring, a wedding ring.
The years roll past and soon you have twenty years with the company. You get a
service anniversary party, and if you’re lucky, another ring.
Your wedding anniversaries come and go, and with some of those important ones
that end in a 0, you’ll get or give a ring. Eternity bands have diamonds all the way
around, because the circle is a symbol of eternity--the circle never ends. It says, “I’ll
love you forever.” Or you’ll get or give a past, present, future ring, which is a larger
diamond in the center with a smaller one on each side. It celebrates the past,
cherishes the present, and looks forward to the future with anticipation.
By now you’ve gone to a few important parties or events, maybe formal ones. Those
required jewelry, and you bought a cocktail ring to match.
By now you’ve had quite a few birthday parties, and someone has no doubt bought
you a ring with your birthstone in it. If you’re a woman, by now you’ve had some
children, and one of the kids has given you a mother’s ring--one with their
birthstone in it and yours. Or maybe even a grandmother’s ring with three or more
birthstones.
Perhaps you celebrated your religious affiliation with a ring, one with a cross in it,
perhaps.
Perhaps you traveled to a foreign land, and bought a ring there in a style native to
the area, or with stones mined in that country. Or you may have bought a ring
specific to your ethnicity, like a Celtic Claddagh ring.
Maybe you bought a signet ring and had it engraved with the first letter of your last
name, so you can hand it down to the next generation. Maybe one or two of the
rings in your collection were part of your inheritance from the last generation. That
would be so lucky.
So the next time you look in your jewelry box and see all those rings in there, smile.
It’s been a great life!
