Ring My Bell

I have a doctor's appointment today. The reason for my visit is to figure out what is going on with my finger. I noticed some pain in it about 3-4 weeks ago. I felt soreness whenever I tried to clinch a full fist or flatten out all of my fingers or even clap. I thought the pain would go away, but although it feels better, it is still not 100% healed. I did not want some minor injury to turn into a major one, so I made an appointment. Here is where the story gets interesting. When I made my appointment, the woman asked what was wrong. I described to her my issue, but had the hardest time explaining which finger. I had a similar scenario with my mother, which went something like this: 'it's the finger on my left hand, in between my pinky and middle finger. You know, my second finger.' My mother replied: 'you mean your ring finger?' To which I answered, 'uuh, yes, yeah, my ring finger.'

I was thinking about that today. How crazy is it that the finger which I used to envision my glorious wedding ring, the one that my wonderful husband and father of my 3-5 beautiful children would give me, is now, just that finger between my pinky and middle finger? How is it that the term 'ring finger', no longer seems to apply to my everyday life. Maybe it is because, no ring of any kind has been on this finger in years. At some point this magical finger, turned into, just another digit. I used to have such promise for this finger. Now it's most major purpose is to hit my W, S and X keys while typing. Life will change in a blink of an eye. Slowly, but surely, even the best ideas and dreams lose a bit of their luster.

Fast forward...

So it's now the next day (Saturday) and I have had my doctor's visit. She did not see anything wrong. Instead she said that maybe my tendons had become swollen. As long as I did not see swelling in the neighboring fingers or a bruise or there was not any 'locking' of this particular finger, I was okay. In fact, it took her all of about 3 minutes to tell me to take 2 Advil a couple of times a day and the problem should be resolved. According to the doctor, this is nothing to worry about. Now that I know my finger is fine, maybe I will again allow myself to start thinking of it as more than a keystroke agent. Maybe I will be brave enough and even hopeful enough to call it by it's proper title. Maybe.