Lord of the Rings

I was never much for wearing jewelry. I don’t wear any except maybe a watch on occasion. That’s only to track time in my counseling sessions. I don’t have any piercings, though I do have one small tattoo. I don’t like wearing rings. Maybe that is the reason for my divorces…I just couldn’t stand the rings! Yeah. Probably not.

But there was a time when rings were important to me. Friendship rings! Remember them?  I’m thinking junior high (middle school for my younger readers) and early high school.  My memory says, though, that we didn’t use them to declare a friendship with a girl. We used them to declare our undying love and devotion! At least I did. But I admit, I am a bit of a romantic.

So Slatington, 1966. We had two hardware stores, two shoe stores, two pharmacies, but only one jewelry store. Mack Jewelers was located in the middle of the business block on Main Street. It was manned by the husband and wife owners. They were always there! His name was Capty. I would love to know why. I don’t remember her name. Perhaps it was Tenille!

You would go in to the store and you would ask to see the friendship rings. The wife, Tenille, would tease you a little bit and finally bring out the velvet tray with about a dozen rings with different designs. They were a little wider than a wedding ring and they were always etched with some design of stars or hearts or flowers.  At the time, they were beautiful.

So you buy your ring for about a buck and then it was time to give it to the love of your life. Nervous and sweaty palmed you finally present the token of your passion. Good times! I remember giving my first one to Jane Correll on the back of Charlie Carlton’s dump truck during a UCC Youth Group paper drive. I told you I was a romantic!

So that is what I was thinking about on this gorgeous Sunday morning. Can I get in a pet peeve on the same topic? Yes I can! It’s my blog! In radio and TV ads they often pronounce jewelry as if it is…jewlery. They reverse the e and the l and it drives me nuts! As long as that continues, they will never get a friendship ring from me.