“This morning I was cleaning my wedding ring. I do it about once a week or so. I have this extra tooth brush I clean it with set aside in the bathroom for when I need it. I got to thinking about how cleaning my wedding ring kind of symbolizes a healthy marriage for me. I’m a guy, a ‘guys’ guy at that. My hands stay constantly banged up and dirty. I work on cars, they get cut. I work on the yard, they get dirty. My ring bares the brunt of those things as well. That’s why I clean it. Friends have asked why I take the time to clean it when it will probably get dirty and no one will really notice a difference. ‘You’re the man, no one cares how pretty your ring is’.
Here’s the thing. IT. DOES. MATTER.
Why?
Because every time I clean it, it reminds me of the small things in our marriage I should be doing. When my wife comes home from work, have I listened to her day, like really listen? Put down my phone, turn off the TV, and make her day the center of my world listen, so that she feels like her day really matters to me, because it does. While we’re lying in bed watching our favorite show at night, did I reach over and scratch her back or play with her hair, letting her know, ‘Yes, we may just be watching a show together, but make no mistake, I know you’re next to me and you are the center of my world.’
Have you stopped by her work lately and brought her a coke, or maybe her favorite candy. It doesn’t have to be extravagant, just something small to let her know, ‘hey I was thinking about you and I thought you would like this.’ See, you don’t just ‘fall out of love’ one day when you wake up. It happens over time, because you stopped doing the little things, you stopped courting her (that by the way shouldn’t stop once you marry, that should enhance) you stopped trying to impress. Every day I wake to my wife, I pretend she is a stranger that I am madly in love with and think, ‘How today can I make her fall in love with me.’
The small things matter gentlemen, so yes, I will continue to wash my wedding ring.”
This story was written by Jeff Hardy, 31, of Oklahoma. Submit your story here, and be sure to subscribe to our best love stories here.
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