My wife always wore her wedding ring. Until recently that is.
I, on the other hand, almost never wore mine, even though she asked me to. Too uncomfortable was my excuse, besides "you know how much I love you and value our marriage" I would tell her. Of course I can't punch myself hard enough for this failure now.
Shortly after the bomb drop in March this year, I put it on. This lasted a couple of days until she finally said something. "Could I tell you something that you might not like to hear?" I said "Yes, of course". Then she went on to explain how me putting the ring on now, after refusing to wear it for years, was like a slap in her face. I said that I was only trying to show her that I was changing. She said that I was only going to make myself look foolish when everyone soon learned that we got divorced. She started this conversation calmly, but finished it extremely upset. I took the ring off and put it away.
Then, several months later, I made a nonchalant comment about her forgetting to put on her ring when going out on her own one day. She said "you don't wear yours" and laughed. I said "True, but that's only because you no longer want me to." "I want to, and plan to earn my way back to wearing it."
Today, after a few more months went by, I put my ring on for the trade show outing I went on today. She had to have seen it, but did not comment. I'm planning to start wearing it more and more and see what happens.
M: A really long time. Crisis: 5 years. She's still worth it.
Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose. -Viktor Frankl
