The Ring

I have The Ring.
The one that binds all rings together.

I’ve been looking at it lately
Playing with it.

Putting it on my left hand, where there has been no ring for over a year
And it feels…not right anymore.
It feels wrong on my left finger because it doesn’t feel like…
me.

The Ring.
The one that binds all rings together.

I had Art’s wedding band, my wedding band and the engagement diamonds all
melted
together
to form
something else.

The something else says “14 years of marriage.” It says “Trust, love, anger, disappointment and fortitude.”

The Ring says “Family of 5, union, and heartache.”

The Ring says
“Has been
fiercely
loved!”

The Ring says “Incomplete, not finished and part missing.”

As I reached up to touch the adoring face of another man, for the first time the ring stung…of guilt and shame! The ring cannot touch this man. I cannot feel this way about this man.

With all the other men I dated, it had never reacted like this. I stared at it, puzzled.

When the man reached for my hand, The Ring changed. It said, “Aaahhh.”

Now when I reach out my right hand to touch this man on the chest, to stroke his back or his hair, The Ring says…
“Yes!”

The ring says
“You were loved and are loved again.”

The Ring says “This is your new life.”

As The Ring travels across this man’s fit, strong shoulders
The Ring reminds me ... where I have been is not to get in the way of where I am going.

The Ring says “Let him in. Let him love you.”

So tonight, as I stood hugging this man good-bye, The Ring glinted in the moon light and it said

“Relax,
enjoy.”

The ring said “It’s time to expand, to open, to make room for this one.”

It’s like all of Art’s love is what was supposed to happen to get me to this place, a place in the life of another amazing man.

I have The Ring.
And The Ring says “This is good.”