My Wedding Ring

Thursday 8.12pm

I love jewellery but only on Nicola. Like a fashion designer dressed in black this is the only piece I wear – my wedding ring. A simple plain circle of 9 carat white gold, it has aged beautifully. It did not always look like this, when new we were told that white gold was not silver enough and had to be plated in rhodium. But a thin veneer of brittle respectability was not what I wanted on the symbol of our marriage, so shortly afterwards, when it got quiet at work I polished all the rhodium off to reveal the gentle yellow silver of the gold underneath. And now two years and nine months later, eleven and a half thousand miles away, just like me bearing the marks of life it looks even better. I often meet people who are approaching twenty or thirty or forty and dreading it, but why ? life is, and will be, and in the end is all too short – celebrate it now.