Dec 15 2008
What should you do with the wedding ring?
You are sure your marriage is over, whether the divorce is final or not. You have taken the ring off your finger. Now what do you do with it?
If you have kids, you might give the ring (or rings) to them someday. There really may come a day when you appreciate the reminder of your former union, and your children might appreciate the keepsake. Or a jeweler might be able to re-design the ring(s) into a pendant or some other piece that even you won’t mind wearing.
The temptation may be to throw it into the ocean in a sort of cleansing ritual. If your wedding ring was expensive, I’d encourage you to think twice before just tossing it, though. Most people can use some extra cash post-separation/diovorce. Mine wasn’t worth much, but I ended up pawning it for gas money about six months into my separation.
One woman told me she stumbled across her wedding ring recently. She’s been divorced 18 years, and hadn’t thought about the ring in ages. She said she might try to make something else out of it since it’s not worth a lot in cash. Finding the ring did not seem to trigger any sad emotions for her. She was just amused about finding it - just tucked in a box somewhere.
I’d say that’s probably the best thing to do with your rings for now. Just put them away - out of sight, out of mind - until someday you can decide what to do with them without an emotional struggle.
My mother was divorced and I inherited her rather lovely wedding ring - in retrospect I am surprised she never sold it as she certainly needed the money at times, and she never wore it after the divorce.
Its nice to have though