Rings

Rings. Men and women wear them. Women will wear them as regular jewelry, as some men do also, but men & women wear them as a sign of being married. Usually on the ring finger of our left hands. Some married couples take the ring wearing for granted. Others wear them all the time. Sometimes, some men can not wear them or choose not to wear them in their jobs or professions. One I know is a cop. There are some cops that don't wear it because they don't want the criminals they are contacting to know they have a family. Somebody to come home to. If that person they contact doesn't like what the cop did, they may try to come back and harm that cops family. I learned that from an ex boyfriends father who had been a cop. He didn't wear a ring because of who he contacted each day. Another profession that usually doesn't wear a ring is somebody in construction. Which is very understandable. You don't need that thing getting caught on anything and ripping your finger off. A replacement, should you be brave enough to do so, is to get a tattoo ring. For me, I thought of doing that before, but at the same time, you get somebody's name on you or something in those terms and then soon after the relationship is done. So, I opted to not have a tattoo ring. Then again, in my profession as a dispatcher, I can wear my ring. Eric can not wear his because he can not have metal on in the area where he prepares and works with food because it may get in the food.

Our wedding day, August 2, 2013

All that said, I believe many people take wearing their wedding rings for granted. It's something they wear and don't think of. They don't think of the symbolism of it. The fact you and your spouse stood up in front of your family and friends or just friends or just family and professed your love for each other. Vowing to love through thick and thin, sickness and in health (which is where we are now), oil death do you part. Ok, Eric and I didn't have the typical vows. We wrote and said our own. He memorized his. I didn't, but probably better because I would have rambled because I would have forgot mine being in front of all out family and friends. But, you get the point. The ring, worn on our left ring finger, symbolizes our marriage. Eric hates he can not wear his at work. He understands why, but he hates it.

He has a death grip on my hand

For the last month Eric has been able to wear his every day. Why? Because he has been off work on caregiver status. A full time job in itself. Because of my transplant process that we started at the beginning of May, there are a lot of things I can not do. The last week and a half (and we still have another half a week), I have been able to do some things I used to do. So, I've been able to help him more than the first few weeks. But, he has been able to wear his ring every day. Which has made him happy.

In my post about the aphresis day, I posted a picture of my hand on his with him sleeping on my lap. That picture shows many things. For one, just how exhausted he was at that point from doing everything. Taking care of Brandon, the dogs, me, etc. The second thing was it shows the love he has for me. That he is there everyday with me through this whole process. Helping me. Going to appointments with me. Making sure I am doing ok. Those were the two things I took the picture for originally. But I recently thought of a third thing. It shows both of our rings. Something we don't always see because of his job. Because he doesn't get to wear his ring at work, he will sometimes forget to put it on when we go places. But, since being off to be my caregiver, he has made sure he puts it on every day when he wakes up. So, the picture also shows our love we pledged to each other on August 2, 2013 in front of our family and friends. For the last month, we have been able to wear our rings together. At the same time. Everywhere we go. That is something that makes us happy. I am very happy I was able to capture that picture the day my stem cells were being taken out. The only other picture of us wearing our rings at the some time was on our wedding day.

Our rings mean something to us. It shows what we worked so hard for. How about you?