The 3 rings on my right hand seem to interest people and children I work with. I was even asked about them at the Miami Book Fair by a few people. I thought I would talk about them and their meaning to me.

Let us start with the ring on my thumb. The ring has my two children’s names on it. About 12-15 years ago, the ring was made by an apprentice jeweler. We have a friend who makes jewelry (very talented man). He asked if his apprentice could make it. I was okay with that because he would be supervising. The ring is white gold with my children’s names in opposite directions on it.

The turquoise ring on my index finger I have had since I was 18. I worked as a waitress at a small town restaurant called Hub’ Country Kitchen. Hub was from the south. He would travel there and bring back things to sell at the restaurant. One time he came back with Native American jewelry. I saw the ring and wanted it. Something about said it should be mine. The ring was $20.00. In the late 1970s, $20.00 was a lot for me at once. Hub let me make payments. I think it took me about 6 weeks to buy it. I use to wear it on my pinkie. It was small. Many years later our jeweler friend made it bigger for me. I do not know what tribe the ring came from.

On my ring finger, is Gramma’s 3 diamond ring. It was given to her by my dad’s older brother. Set in white gold are her engagement diamond from my dad’s father (who died after 18 years of marriage), her engagement diamond from her second husband (marriage lasted 6 months), and my uncle’s wife’s engagement diamond (the one he gave her). Uncle Dave made his wife an identical ring. Now my uncle was a cunning man (he died in Nov. 1996). I believe he thought that third diamond made the ring his. However, I was able to get it from him. It had disappeared a couple years before Gramma died (she died in Dec. 1994). She thought she lost it. I knew who had it because a lot of things were disappearing.  People meant more than things to me so I just watched. She wanted me to have that ring when she died and some other things. She trusted him with a verbal agreement – mistake. My uncle and I were not on good terms when she died. I could have let it go had he treated her right. She asked me once if he and I were having problems. I did not explain but told her yes. Her Reply to me and sick as she was getting was this, “Do what you have to do. He can be a very mean man.” Her funeral (his planning) showed a side of him that did not help his and my situation – but, funerals are not the place to butt heads. I told him so when he approached me at the cemetery trying for a confrontation.  He would love a public display of so kind. So I remained quiet until a more appropriate time. At the funeral lunch, he asked my husband what I wanted. My husband asked me and told him the ring and the money promised my sister. To my surprise, by mid 1995 the following year, both came in the mail.

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