My wedding ring's back & a word to the wise...

This is a cautionary tale, my jewelry lovin' friends...

My diamond jewelry, which includes my precious wedding ring, needs to be taken to its respective jeweler every 6 months for a cleaning and inspection. (Upon relating this story to friends, apparently I am the only one who has to do this. It can't just be me- after all, my jewelry comes from 2 very popular jewelry stores!) I do this every October and April. I write it out on my large calendar in big letters so that I don't forget. When the jeweler does these inspections, they fill out a form and put it back in the sleeve or folder to show that you've been keeping your ring maintained so that the lifetime warranty will be good.

Well, along came April and I took until the last week to get around to bringing my jewelry in, but I did and everything looked good.

I've been a little swollen lately in my hands and feet (thank you pregnancy) and so I haven't been wearing my ring. In fact, after we returned from the mall I put it back in my jewelry box for safe keeping.

For some reason, I decided that Sunday to wear my wedding ring, despite its snugness. So, I put it on, and went to church. During our pastor's fabulous sermon, I looked down at my hand and dang it if one of the small round stones surrounding my center stone wasn't missing! (You should've seen me, I gasped audibly and my bible dropped off my almost non-existent lap. I love to make a scene!). Okay, so after I took a deep breath, I congratulated myself for being faithful in my inspections and knew that since it wasn't my center stone, it wasn't the end of the world and my warranty would cover this.

So, Monday I make my way to our local Kay jeweler, explain my problem, and hand over the ring. The worker asked if I was up to date with my inspections. "Of course," I replied and handed her my inspection report folder. A few seconds go by and she tells me that this isn't what she needs. She needs to see my most recent inspection report. Huh? It's in there, after all I just got it inspected the Tuesday before! No dice. Apparently the worker who did my inspection (she must've been pretty thorough seeing as how the prong completely broke off without me even wearing it after she inspected it...) neglected to include my inspection report in my folder when she handed it back to me.

Now, it still was April (for another 2 days only!) so it worked out okay since I was still within my month to get inspected, but what if I hadn't felt like putting it on that Sunday? What if I waited until my preggo hands went back to their normal size in two months? The manager told me they would still have honored it, but I wonder if they would've believed me after that much time.

Anyhow, if I'm not the only person on the planet who is required to get their jewelery inspected, make sure that you check every time that they include the paperwork!

Today I picked my ring up, shiny and new-looking and even though it isn't all that comfy on my finger, I am happy to have it back and will be wearing it on my pinky or around my neck.