Let me back up a little. We recently ordered Liam's class ring, and as a bonus with the order, he got a companion band with his graduation year (2022!!!) engraved on it. Now, Liam's never worn any jewelry on a regular basis. This is an important fact for the purposes of our story. He left his ring on during practice Monday after school. It was hot (87 degrees) and VERY humid.
You'll never guess what happened next.
Wait, what's that you say? You've worn a ring while exercising before? Great! Then you already know what Liam found out the (very) hard way: Your fingers can swell up when you exercise, leaving you stuck in the unforgiving clasp of a very tight ring.
After practice, we tried running his hand under cool water and using dish soap to lubricate his finger to get the ring off. No dice. We tried having him elevate it for a while. Nope. We tried wrapping dental floss around his finger and then unwinding it with the end hooked into the ring, which is apparently the internet's favorite and most successful method of ring removal. Sorry, internet, you struck out too. His finger seemed to be a normal color, so we decided to just wait and let the swelling go down overnight.
Yeah ... that didn't work out either.
This morning, we tried all the things again with the dental floss and the cool water and the soap. We even tried coating the floss in the soap. But no. His stubborn finger stayed swollen, and the ring stayed on. So then I tried to cut it off with some wire clippers. That worked out as well as you would expect, which is to say not at all. Then we got the bright idea to try cutting through the ring with a Dremel, which would have worked except that we forgot about how much friction that creates, and how metal conducts heat, and I burned his finger. That's right, Mom of the Year over here.
At this point, I decided we needed outside help. It seemed to me that the two groups that would have the most experience in ring removal would be jewelers and emergency responders. Since it was 7:30 in the morning, none of the jewelry stores in town were open, so I went with plan B. I called the non-emergency number for the fire department and asked if they could help. They said we should come downtown and ring the doorbell, and they would see what they could do. So off we went. The firefighters couldn't have been nicer, and they had a pair of bolt cutters all set up on their table in anticipation of our arrival. A couple quick snips, and Liam's finger was free, his circulation fully restored in time for his tennis match after school. Of course, I would be remiss in my duties if I didn't make the boy pose for a picture to mark this momentous occasion.
Funny postscript: Liam was ONE MINUTE late to school, and I had to call in so his tardy would be marked as excused. I called, introduced myself, and told the person, "He was at the fire department getting a ring cut off." She laughed and laughed. "That's what he said, but I needed to hear it from you." Ah well. Like the old proverb says: He who keeps his fingers fully functional gets the last laugh.
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