Moving On-Moving In

A jeweler friend recently told me that diamonds don't hold their value. They aren't as precious and rare as the engagement ring racket would have would be grooms believe. Buy a ruby or sapphire for your sweetheart if you truly want to give a gift that holds some value. So, I wasn't surprised when I dumped my wedding set on the counter at the Encino Jewelry Mart and the man offered me $150 for the gold and $500 for the diamond. The set cost $2100 in 2001.

"I'll take credit for the gold and I'll keep the diamond."

I snapped a photo while the man wearing a magnifier on his glasses pried apart the diamond solitaire that spent 14 years on my left hand.

"That's a very high quality diamond" he said after releasing it from the prongs and giving it a closer inspection. "A new diamond like this would cost $1000. I just don't have many customers looking for a half carat."

He placed the diamond in a tiny plastic baggie, scooped up the two gold rings, and gave me a receipt for payment in full. I will use the store credit to replace the shank on my grandmother's 1928 wedding ring. So I can wear it. As an engagement ring.

I called my boyfriend as I sat in the Jewelry Mart parking lot. I told him it was done. That I had surrendered my wedding rings in order to make way for a new ring. (A new life). "That's awesome." I silently waited for something more. "I'm pooping."

What I wanted him to say was, "How are you feeling about it?" I wanted a recognition that selling the most important symbols of my marriage--a very significant part of my life--was, well, significant. I hung up, disappointed by a sweet man who is still getting the hang of my flair for the melodramatic.

I dialed my mom, something I don't often do on a Wednesday afternoon. She was thrilled to hear from me mid-week and she understood the MAGNITUDE of what just transpired. She had survived two failed marriages that bookended over three decades with my late father. Plus, she appreciates that I am supremely sentimental about my grandmother's depression era diamond ring. Had I not met and fallen for my dreamy boyfriend, I would have worn it anyway.

The ring will be ready in two weeks, which will start the countdown to engagement. "It will happen when you least expect it" is the only clue I have as to what my sweetie has planned for proposing marriage. Meantime, we are packing our belongings to move. Into an apartment in a building I lived in for 9 years. With my ex-husband. Who still lives there.

And that is where the adventures of The Ex Next Door will begin.