Speaking of rings, what to do with the old wedding rings once the ink on the divorce papers is dry? If you can believe it, the teenage girlfriend stole mine. I had left it by the sink in order to wash dishes. But I still had his. Ha! I took it down to the local pawn shop and got $30 for the gold in it. This was the beginning of a beautiful relationship between Mr. Ivan Coffman (the shop's owner) and me. He had the most beautiful jewelry. I couldn't help looking. And oh my blessed soul, I spotted this carved ivory ring set in Victorian filigree with a butterfly on each side. I was stone cold broke except for the a fore mentioned $30.

      I didn't know I had it in me, to cry over something so beautiful that I couldn't have. But that's what I did. I told Mr. Coffman all about my divorce and how embarrassing it was. And about how I'd just moved to this small town and how everyone now knew everything about my private life; the big crystalline tears just welling forth. “Wel-el (he always says 'well' in two syllables),” he said, “I guess we can just call this here transaction a trade.”

        As I handed back the crumpled twenty and the ten, he wrapped the carved ivory ring in tissue and put it into a pink bag that looked just as if it were newly printed in 1950 saying Feather River Jewelry and handed it to me. Nothing that good had happened to me in a long time. I have bought many special pieced of jewelry from Mr. Coffman since, but the ivory was the first and it was a gift.