I get an annoying little rash on my finger.
No, this isn’t yet another self-indulgent blog post about some minor ailment.
In hot weather, my left ring finger is susceptible to some sort of rash or minor fungal hoohah. This has the incredibly annoying (to me) result of my being unable to wear my wedding ring for more than a day or two at a time, let I get the major itchies. That’s a real shame, for a number of reasons.
First of all, my wedding ring is my symbol to the world that I was lucky enough to net a Gem Amongst Womankind, to wit, Margie.
She’s mine, all mine, you hear me! Bwah-ha-hah!
It’s also, to be fair, a nice piece of jewelry, from John Atencio, which is a jewelry store and design company here in Denver. (John Atencio was also, coincidentally, the brother of the wife, Elouise, of my first boss at the company, JimLo. None of which I knew at the time. I jokingly asked Jim, when he told me, if I should have dropped his name to get a discount. He indicated they probably would have increased the price.) It’s actually unique, since the “default” for the ring is yellow gold, and we got it done in white gold (which took them two tries to cast correctly).
Very spiffy, kind an abstract wavyness to it. I enjoy wearing it. When I can, dagnabbit. Since its a solid, wide band, it tends to create a wide area of compressed skin, heat, and moisture. Which then leads to a recurrence of that rash again.
Okay, enough with the rash.
So, anyway, during those times when I can’t wear my wedding ring because of you-know-what, I’ve taken to carrying it in my wallet. Which is kind of nice, too.
Margie, of course, ended up with a family heirloom ring that I couldn’t afford even today. Yeesh. What a deal.
I have another ring I wear, too. Margie got it for me as an “engagement” ring, of a sorts — a lighter, silver, Celtic knot sort of design. Made on the Isle of Skye, if I recall my Wireless catalog correctly. I wear that one a lot more often, on the right hand, sort of as a compromise.
Rings are about the only jewelry I wear. Well, I also have a medallion, with a Celtic knot on the obverse, and a Northwest Indian design (eagle and raven, I believe) on the reverse (symbolizing the joining of two houses) which I got at a Rennfaire some time ago. Margie has a similar one, with the same reverse design. I wear it all the time.
The only other jewelry I can see wearing would be an earring, since that seems to have become marginally acceptible for men. On the other hand, I work for a rather conservative engineering company, so that might draw a few odd glances. And I hate needles, which means the whole piercing thing is pretty sketchy for me. And, finally, I would worry that it would be (or would appear to be) one of those Desperate Attempts By Guys In Their Forties To Try And Look Cool Again, which would be mortifying.
(That’s one reason why I never grew the ponytail back after the wedding. Especially with the thinning, to put it politely, of my hair, it would have looked too much like one of those Desperate Attempts By Balding Guys To Try And Make Up For It By Growing A Ponytail.)
I’m so vain. I probably think this post is about me.