If the marriage goes south, you can always burn your wedding pictures. But what do you do with your rings? Throw them? Sell them? Give them away?
JACK: I asked my buddy's wife, who worked in a jewelry store, to help me pick out an engagement ring. I wanted to surprise my girlfriend of three years. The ring was simple yet elegant, I thought, and priced right (two months' salary).
I asked my wife to marry me when we were vacationing in San Francisco. We were on a secluded beach in Carmel when I popped the question. She was so excited she went running down the beach screaming that she loved me.
On each Christmas, Valentine's Day, birthday and anniversary, she added another diamond to the ring. With each child we had, she added another gold ring to the original ring.
After 18 years of marriage and two daughters, the simple yet elegant engagement ring was unrecognizable.
I never told her I kind of resented her constantly adding more diamonds to the original ring. It made me feel like the original was never good enough. But it made her happy.
A few months after I retired, she asked for a divorce. I guess I wasn't good enough either. I thought we were happily married. I had no idea she was unhappy. My last day in our house, as I was packing the few things I got in the divorce, I left my wedding ring — a gold Claddagh ring she bought me, engraved "Love Always" — in its original box on the bed, along with all the cards and letters from her that I had kept, all signed "Love Always."
I still wonder what she did with them.
AMY: My wedding rings were created from my then-husband's grandparents' rings. I've saved them for my son because they were his great-grandparents'. Hopefully, he'll have better marital luck with them than I did.
HELENE: I met my ex-husband in a bowling alley, and he proposed to me during one of my leagues. Bowling was a part of our lives. It's because of him that I became a much better bowler and have accomplished a lot within the sport.
My engagement ring, wedding band and anniversary band sat in a box for several years after our divorce. Then, one day, I decided to design a bowling pin necklace using the 32 small diamonds from all the rings. I found a jeweler to make the mold and asked him to break it afterward, so my diamond bowling pin is a one-of-a-kind piece.
I don't bowl competitively anymore. I only bowl one night a week in a ladies scratch league. But the necklace is a reminder of how far I've come and all the wonderful experiences the sport has given me.
JEANNE: After a fit, I threw my rings at my then-husband. He was kind of enough to collect them and sell them to a gold dealer. I found the receipt. Needless to say, the handwriting was on the wall.
JON: I decided that the last vestige of my marriage should end in exactly the same place it began. I was married in the church. As the collection plate was passed, I put my wedding ring in an envelope and dropped it in the collection plate.
What did you do with your wedding and honeymoon pictures after you divorced? Send your tale, along with your questions, problems and rants to cheryllavinrapp@gmail.com. And check out my e-books, "Dear Cheryl: Advice from Tales from the Front" and "I'll Call You. Not."
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