Have you da wing?

That line is from one of my all time favorite movies, The Princess Bride. And rings have been on my mind lately, specifically my wedding rings. I love my rings. They're simple and elegant and perfect. I used to wear my rings ALL of the time, I even slept in them. I had little tiny ring tan lines. But by the time I was 7 months pregnant my hands were too swollen to wear my rings comfortably. So sadly, I stopped wearing them for fear of having them get stuck and then having to amputate a finger. It felt SOOO weird not to have them on. I felt like I was walking around completely naked. Then after the delivery, I didn't wear them all that much because I was worried about scratching Lily with the stone. I tried to remember to wear them when I went out, but I was so used to the feeling of not having them on I wouldn't notice. 


I'm grateful for Joe on a daily basis, but there have been a few times in recent memory where I was made acutely aware of what an amazing husband and father he is. Even though he is pretty busy with school, he almost always makes time to come home for dinner and not do work in the evenings. I know this is a huge sacrifice academically and socially. Most other students are working all the time and hanging out together lots. He always invites me and Lily if he is going out with people. He makes me coffee every morning. And he does a million other things. I am truly blessed to be married to such a great guy. 


Lily is an absolute joy. I wouldn't trade her for the world. Even so, her arrival has changed our relationship. Not in a negative way, it's just different. Generally, her needs come before ours, to include our relationship. We spend a lot of our time talking about baby related things, doing baby related things, or thinking about baby related things. We love doing things together as a family, and we still manage to have grown up discussions. And we're very grateful to both our parents for watching Lily in order to give us a chance to go out alone sometimes. We're lucky that we don't have any huge "issues" that we need to work out. We just need to love each other and know that we're each trying our best to make our new little family work.  


This is where the rings come in. Our rings are a physical reminder of the promises we made to each other. When I wear my rings, it just feels right. My hands look incomplete without them there. When Lily is screaming and I'm picking up Joe's socks again, my rings remind me that he will be home soon. When we hold hands and our rings clink together, it always makes me smile. So I'm going to make a real effort to wear my rings even if I'm just home alone. It seems like such a trivial thing. But to me they are a constant reminder of all that we've been through together and all that we still have to look forward to. And sometimes that's all I need to make it through the day.