The Beach Boys sang “Be true to your school, just like you would to your girl or guy, be true to your school,” in the song titled – hold on – Be True to Your School. Those lyrics crossed my mind the other day when I found Daughter’s high school ring in my office, formerly her bedroom. I remember when she came home from school breathless that she needed a check for some ridiculous amount for a ring I knew I’d find in her room someday long after she moved out. She justified the price tag by assuring me she would nevernevernever take it off, just as I had sworn to my parents, and yet there it was in the jewelry box with the dancing ballerina on top, right next to the ladybug earrings. Surprise surprise.
I am the last one to cast a faceted stone as far as school rings go. When I was in high school, we didn’t have the option of designing our own class ring as Daughter had, with her name in block letters on one side of the stone and some other personally relevant symbol on the other. She even chose the stone’s color, different from her school colors. My school colors were green and white, and damned if you could get anything beside an emerald color stone. Nor would it even occur to us. It was a rite of passage we were thrilled to invest our parents’ money in. And before long it found its way into my jewelry box next to the puzzle ring and peace sign choker. Both of which I could get good money for now on eBay.
On a lark, I pulled up the website for Jostens, imperial ring maker to the Clearasil set, and paged through all the choices a graduating senior has. Everything from antique style, art deco, traditional clunky, wannabe Beyonce. Enhanced with cubic zirconia side stones or crystal hearts. You want to pay for it, you got it. For a cool $389 (extra for real diamonds) you can get a ring that’s distinctively yours, whether you see yourself as Felicity or Destiny’s Child. Home-schooled? They’ve got you covered. Although being the only student in your class might not entitle you to the group discount. Which brings us to Rhymes with Orange, a comic I saw in the newspaper earlier that morning.
I love days with a theme.
Daughter’s Featured Foto celebrates a favorite childhood story, Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, due out in theaters October 16th. Can’t wait
