There are a handful of defining moments I can remember from my childhood. 1) the first time I hurt a friends feelings and had to go over to their house to apologize, 2) the time I was caught cheating on my 1st grade timed math test, and the consequences that followed (yep, true story), 3) the nervous frog in my throat that built up right before trying out for my first select softball team, 4) and the time our family was in a rollover car accident while road-tripping to Wyoming. In each of these moments I can recall in great detail how I was physically feeling and how I was emotionally feeling. In each of these moments I can also tell you how they significantly changed my outlook on my little life. For example, when I hurt my friends feelings I learned the power of words; how they can break people and the power of a sincere apology. In 1st grade I learned that cheating doesn’t help anyone and that shortcuts rarely pay off. In softball, I learned that you can’t make the team if you never try out, and that some of the best moments of life come from pushing through the nervous sweats and choosing to believe in yourself. And finally, when my family was literally hanging by their seat-belts mid-rollover, I learned that the most important thing in the entire world was my family.
Those were some pretty important lessons to learn between the ages of 5-12.
When age 14 rolled around I had another defining moment. I committed to God, and to my family, to wait until marriage before sex. These days, this is a polarizing decision. High school, college, and years of living on my own would only confirm the difficulty of this commitment. At 14 I couldn’t see that far ahead, but I knew what I wanted. My dad honored my decision by gifting me a ring to wear on my wedding ring finger. Between then and age 24 (when I was married) this ring gave me the chance to share my decision with others. I bet over the coarse of those 10 years I was asked 100+ times why I was wearing a ring on that finger. Each time I shared why, sometimes only to receive a sarcastic or snarky comment.
Fast forward to 2014, when my husband proposed! He planned a sweet and meaningful proposal and for the first time since I was 14 years old, I had another ring to wear in place of my purity ring. As soon as the engagement ring went on, my wheels started turning about what to do with this other ring I had worn proudly for 10 years. I could save it and give it to my daughter one day…but what if I misplace it? I liked the idea of passing on the significance to someone but wasn’t sure I wanted the ring to just sit in a jewelry box for years and years.
Then it dawned on me. The person who should have my ring was my husband! He was the reason behind the ring anyway! So I pitched the idea to him and then we went to our local jeweler. The plan was to use the gold band of my ring and melt it into my husbands wedding band. We knew we would have to add more gold, but the significance was there. The entirety of my purity ring would be in his wedding band. My ring also had a few small diamonds and rubies (my birthstone) so we asked the jeweler what we could do to incorporate those as well. My husband wasn’t too fond of having jewels on his ring, so the jeweler suggested we sink the stones into the inside part of the ring so that you could still see them when my husband took his ring off, but that they weren’t visible from the outside. We loved that idea! It meant that my entire ring, including the stones, would be worn by my husband forever! How cool, right?!
I still remember the feeling of seeing the finished product for the first time! It was so meaningful. And then to be able to put that ring on my husbands finger on our wedding day, I’ll never forget that moment!
Today is our anniversary, so I thought this would be such a fun post to share.
Happy Anniversary Babe!
xoxo.
Oh, and here’s a picture of my husband’s ring! One of the stones did fall out but we are getting that fixed!
Christabelle says
This is the sweetest!! I love your STORies and the raw truth in them!! Happy anniversary beautiful! May YALl be blessed with many many more β€β€
Becca says
Awww thank you sweet friend!!! πππ
Carol says
Becca- I love this idea. What a sweet gift to be able to give your husband- both the physical and the sentimental.
Carol