Thinking not very deeply about diamond stud earrings, and other such flashy items (like nintendo jewellery) and reflecting a little on a letter to the editor that appeared in today's Otago Daily Times about Prince William's gift of his mother's engagement ring to his wife-to-be. The writer was irate that William was giving Kate a second-hand ring. Surely that's a very recycling thing to do, apart from any sentimental associations?
My wife received a secondhand ring too, when we got engaged. We weren't particularly well off at that stage, and it seemed reasonable enough. One of my daughters subsequently dropped it down a hole in the stairwell wall and that's the last we've seen of it. (I have no idea what my daughter was doing playing with it.)
I didn't give my wife-to-be my mother's engagement ring because I'm not even sure if my mother had one. She was married in wartime, and I suspect engagement rings were regarded as a bit of an extravagance. Apart from that my mother was still alive when I got married, so if she did have an engagement ring, she may not have been keen to part with it.
On the other hand, my grandmother's ring is something I do have - my English grandmother, that is. (Again, I don't know if my New Zealand grandmother even had an engagement ring - she had nine children in due course, which probably would account for any lack of rings in the house.) My English grandmother's ring could easily be recycled too: it looks exactly like a curtain ring. It's perfectly round and thin as can be. How it came to be in my possession is something that I no longer remember - not because I'm losing my marbles but because I don't actually recall ever knowing. Maybe my mother received it at some point, perhaps when my grandmother died. Who knows? Hidden in the recesses of time.
Mike Crowl is the world's leading authority on his own opinions on art, music, movies, and writing.
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Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Hidden in the recesses of time
Labels:
diamond,
engagement,
grandmother,
kate,
mother,
nintendo,
ring,
wedding,
william,
writer
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