My husband received a Yoda bobble head for his 40th birthday. He holds a bright green neon light sabre (Yoda, not my husband). It was kept in my husband’s office until recently, and now sits as one of the few decorative items in the master bedroom. (Everything else is still packed because this place was supposed to be temporary).
You know those Chicken Soup for the Soul stories and other heartwarming tales about married people never spending a night apart and never taking off their wedding rings? I’m coming up to six years married this year and I think I have taken my rings off as many days as we have been married. If it is too hot, if I am kneading dough, if I get the “hand rot” (sometimes I am not good about making sure I dry underneath my rings), if I am exercising, swimming (I am always scared they are going to come off and therefore I then swim with my hands in fists), or if I want to play with them, or for many other reasons. They are off a lot.
I was blessed with the Francis Fat Fingers (and thighs while we are on the topic). Thanks Mom, Thanks Grandpa. I do not have graceful, slim hands. I have the plump, stubby fingers. Could I not have inherited my hands from my maternal grandmother – who was rumoured to be able to reach 1.5 octaves on a piano with ease? No, I get these hands. But in their defence, they are working hands – strong, robust, and from what I can tell so far, not prone to arthritis (I’ll let you know). So, I’ll take them. Versus the alternative, I guess.
My husband takes his wedding band off all the time too. For many of the same reasons I do. And who gets to hold it? You know it! Yoda – on his sabre.
Quick aside here, one day my husband took off his ring to cut the lawn and left it on the sofa table in the living room. So he would easily be able to find it later, he put it on a business card that was also sitting on the table. I came down stairs to find him gone, and his wedding ring sitting in the middle of the living room on a lawyer’s business card. Lucky for him, the lawyer was a real estate one. Consider the messages you are sending out people!
Now taking off our rings. Could this mean that we are not a committed to each other as those who never spend a night apart or never take off their rings? Maybe. But I’ll tell you this – as I type ringlessly (it’s hot and I am about to go for a run) – my Francis Fat Fingers are deformed. There is a slight indent about 1/2 inch wide on my second finger on my left hand. And It’s lighter than the rest of my hands.
I like to look at my hand with this dint. I like the indent. I can’t take off it easily. And I do not want to.
June 29th, 2012 Extra-Ordinary: Rings do not make the marriage – rather the dints.
The Daily EO 