Thinking I lost a diamond: File under "heart attack moments"

photo: Kay Jewelers

On my train ride home, I had my hands folded in my lap. My right hand touched my wedding ring...and felt gaping emptiness between metal prongs. My heart literally skipped a beat as a dozen thoughts crossed my mind in half a second. Where was the diamond, how had I lost it, how would I tell Mister Redhead? This story has a very anticlimatic ending: My ring had turned just enough so that I was feeling the side of the setting, not the top. The diamond was still securely in place. No heart attacks were had.

But funnily enough, no financial questions entered my mind in that split second. None. Even though my wedding ring is probably my most expensive possession, the sentimental and symbolic meaning far outweighs the pricetag. It's for those reasons I would have been devastated had I lost it, not the money lost.

In fact, I have no idea how much my ring is worth. I know how much stupid things like the ironing board cost, but I can't come up with even a ballpark range for my ring. This is partly because Mister Redhead surprised me with engagement ring (so I had no part in the shopping experience). Sometime between then and now, he showed me the paperwork for it, which said the price. That number glossed right over my brain. It's nowhere to be found in there now. Is it possible I block out the monetary value of sentimental objects? I mean, I was never one of those girls who thought a guy should spend three months salary on a ring (or whatever the rule is), but I usually remember the rough value of things. It's kind of an odd phenomenon to me. I suppose it's better I'm not aware if how much this bauble on my ring finger is worth; it would freak me out.

But what about you guys? Do you know how much your ring is worth? Do you want to know? Or do you block out the value like I do?