Rings

Q: I don't tend to wear jewellery much, most of the time. What I do wear on a day to day basis tends to be items that have some sort of symbolic value to me. For example, for some time I wore a small crystal star as pendant when I was involved with someone for whom that was an appropriate symbol. And when Mark and I were choosing the design for our wedding rings, we favoured plant/leaf/vine patterns, since we liked the imagery of growing together/with each other, like two trees planted next to one another. When Chris gave me the commitment ring I currently wear (a silver puzzle-ring), I was utterly charmed when he said that he thought it was appropriate because he thought of us as being two very complex people who fit together perfectly like pieces of a puzzle. What sort of symbolism do other folk have for jewellery that they particularly treasure?

A:I wear a dragon ring on my right hand. I got it at a street fair, three weeks

after the street fair where I first saw the ring. I figured if I still wanted it that badly after three weeks, I ought to get it, even though I'd always hated jewelry. Sure enough, I've been wearing it for more than a decade, except for a three-month period when I lost it (it's got sharp edges, so I do take it off frequently for brief periods, and that's when I lost it). I'm not entirely sure what it symbolizes. I've always liked dragons, though I don't quite think of myself as dragon-identified (despite the house name). I think more than anything else I got it as a break from my past, particularly as a symbol of my dropping out of school and joining the Real World [tm].