Well, so much for me sitting down to write a blog once a week. Big plans, little follow through. My web guy just looks at me and shakes his head.

There are many things that I love about my business. I never know what someone is going to come in with. It could be coins or watches or sterling or who knows. I tell people that what I do is sort of like having a standing Antiques Roadshow, except I will actually buy the stuff instead of giving a "pie in the sky" number.

One of the things I don't love about what I do is meeting people who are in the position that they are having to liquidate their engagement rings to save thier houses. We here at Midwest buy something like 15-20 engagement rings a week. This is and of itself sad as it is totally not God's plan for marriage. But from a business standpoint I figure more than 50% of all marriges end in divorce so I am offering a safe and fair environment for a person (usually the wife) to get rid of the bad memories from the broken marriage. Here lately though I have had a number of people who are still married and needing to sell their wedding sets to make the house payment. On the one hand, while it represents the love for the marriage, it is only a thing and we can always get things again. On the other hand Holy Cow! why are we in such a place that people need to sell their rings to keep a roof over their heads? It saddens me on many levels. What are they going to do next month when the next payment is due? When someone is selling a "divorce ring" the sentimentality is gone. In fact it probably has a bad karma associated with it. The selling of a ring from a still together marriage means they are in seriously tough times and I am always prayerfull that the couple can stay true to the "or worse" part of their vows.

 God bless you all and if there is anyway I can help you out, don't hesitate to call.