My left hand ring finger has been feeling a bit naked lately. So a week or so back I decided it was time I went hunting for a worthy replacement ring.
I clicked over to Etsy, and searched for “silver ring.”
We found 30,702 results for silver ring.
D’oh!
I scanned page after page of rings. Many were quite beautiful, many merited serious consideration. But none seemed perfectly right for me.
A few hours later, while finishing up some work just prior to leaving for BlogHer, I had a flash of inspiration. I returned to Etsy and ran a search with slightly different wording. I poured over the results, contacted a seller, discussed what I wanted, and have since been waiting anxiously for my purchase to arrive.
Today it did.
It’s a thick sterling silver band hand-stamped with my favorite quote. A quote that, under the circumstances, is heart-rendingly apt. The words, from Samuel Beckett, circle the ring in two lines:
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter.
Try again. Fail again. Fail better.
When I tore open the padded manila envelope the ring arrived in, fished it out, and laid eyes on it for the very first time, I did what I’ve been doing a whole lot of lately. I burst into tears.
It’s me. It’s perfectly me. I love it.
My ring finger feels right again. I know it’ll be a while before the rest of me feels right again, but it’s something.
