Today's reader question comes from S, who is in the process of divorcing her husband. S, like so many divorcing women, is conflicted about what to do with her engagement ring: Part of her wants to hold on to it for her children, but...it's complicated. I get it, and you probably do, too.
So S wanted to know if I had any ideas for what to do with her engagement ring. I'm going to give my 100% honest answer, with the understanding that this is a touchy subject, and also that symbols of marriage (and the institution itself) are topics I have ever-evolving views on. Let's back it up for a moment.
For the years that I was married, if you had asked me what my most prized possession was, I would have said "my engagement ring" - the $350 pawn-shop band with which Kendrick proposed to me in a Las Vegas parking lot - without a moment's hesitation. Cut to nine years later, when a trio of events related to that ring took place: