Wedding Rings

I never wanted Jason’s wedding ring to sit in its box in the bedside table.

I also knew, I wasn’t going to wear his ring on a chain around my neck.

Jason’s wedding ring was a story of continued loved, far after those who loved and were loved are gone. The gold in his ring included melted gold from my great grandparents, Fred and Mary Tehonchuk’s, wedding bands. Their wedding date was engraved in each, worn thin, after a lucky lifetime of love. Jason’s ring also included melted gold from my grandmother, Arleen Tatusko, engagement and wedding band. I use her engagement diamond to make a pendant for our wedding. She too was blessed with 67 beautiful years of marriage to my “Boppa” George Tatusko. Jason and I didn’t get that kind of time, but deep love cannot be measured by time.

Jason’s ring was made up of their stories. Melted in gold. He took pride in the design of his ring. Untraditional, the edges were squared. A hammer texture applied to the outside. I had it engraved. It read “My best friend. I love you. 09.07.2024”. We chuckled because when I picked it up, the quotation marks were included as apart of the engraving from the text I sent the jeweler. It was a funny mishap, and as Jason said, a good story. A part of the continued story of the rings.

I was inspired to create a pendant that took on the qualities of his ring, but in a different form. The back of the pendant is engraved with his handwriting from a note from my 30th birthday. “I love you forever love Jason”

Now I wear it around my neck, stacked with the pendant that holds my grandmas engagement diamond. A reminder, just like this heavy grief I carry, a beautiful, poetic, heartbreaking reminder. Love lives on, far after they are all gone, in a different form. 

As for my rings, I decided to take them off my left hand and move them to my right. I knew I didn’t want to stop wearing them. They are beautiful, and they are made by Jason, for me. In the orthodox wedding ceremony, the wedding bands are placed on the right ring finger. They are swapped three times by the priest and wedding sponsor in the name of the Trinity, symbolizing our entwined lives. Amongst all the heartbreak and pain, may they forever be a reminder of the beautiful day we were married, and that Jason is waiting for me in eternal life and until that day comes, he will be incomplete without me, just as I am incomplete here on earth without him.