Friday, June 10, 2011

With This Ring I Thee Wed

Once again, Orcrist has written a wonderful piece about a special event we shared this week! I'm so blessed that he is not only my husband, but so wonderfully thoughtful and thought provoking!
-KtC


For our 10th anniversary my wife and I gave each other custom designed, matching wedding band tattoos on our left ring fingers. It is something we had talked about earlier in our marriage and we felt it was the right time to do it. We won't stop wearing the gold wedding rings we gave each other when we confirmed our vows on our wedding day though.

The design is a three stranded cord, which separates with each strand working to form part of a heart and then coming together to reform the cord. It is taken from the bible verse we used as the theme of our wedding: Ecclesiastes 4:12, "A cord of three strands is not easily torn apart." It represents the three relationships in our marriage that we need to keep it strong. My wife, Myself, and God.



Permanent wedding bands as our anniversary gift to each other.

The symbolism behind the fact, that they are actual tattoos is almost as powerful as the design and possibly more so then our actual wedding rings. Wedding rings have a lot going for them. They are a powerful and classic symbol of commitment and their historical use in weddings goes back hundreds of years. They look nice and can be passed on as heirlooms to children and family.

However, I have come to realize that a tattoo ring is almost more powerful then a ring as a symbol of commitment. They are in all respects permanent. I can't take it off, or lose it. I can't hide it, or pretend it isn't there. For better or worse, I will always have the symbol of my commitment to my wife visible on my finger. The permanency part is powerful. Yes, it is convenient that the ink is under the skin. There is no physical object to to be removed or get in the way if I go into surgery or get a job where I can't wear any metal objects. I will always have the visible ring.

Even hypothetically it is a powerful symbol. If one of us was tempted to break our vows and cheat with another person, well, the ring would be evident there as well to all involved. I will never be able to hide my commitment to my wife or slip it into my pocket temporarily. Yes, a tattoo can be removed, but it requires time, money, premeditation, pain, and minor surgery.

Another hypothetical situation. Lets say I was in a position like Abram in the old testament when he went to a foreign land (Egypt) and was confronted by someone powerful and asked about this woman who was with him.... I couldn't deny that we are married as he did. We have matching identical, non removable images on our fingers. Even a child could figure out that we are probably married and that I know her and she knows me in a deep personal way.

This is what I like about the new rings. They are so similar to our original wedding rings, yet so different in many ways. We will of course keep both, but from now on, I really won't ever be removing the ring my wife gave me ever again. That is a powerful statement.


3 comments:

  1. That is totally cool! Maybe Josh and I will have to steal this idea from you somneday!!!!:) Angela did tell me on Sunday that you guys have matching wedding ring tatoos! I just never thought about all those things that even solidify the commitment further to each other! So sweet!

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  2. I agree, a very special and everlasting decision. Before you walk through metal detectors at airports you would always have to remove rings, even wedding rings, but you guy's don't! I can hear it now "We may have a situation on our hands, we have a couple here with some type of terrorist insignia on their finger, please advise." Also, some jobs that do not allow any exposed tattoos, well, if a boss or organization does not see the meaning and commitment behind this particular tattoo then I would not commit my ideas and effort in working for them. But no seriously, I love the verse you mentioned. God bless you and your spouse.
    P.S. I came here from your post on Woot about today's Poll question ^^

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  3. Leeroy, thank you for coming and visiting and commenting! I love comments!

    The beauty of these is they are very discrete as well, they are meaningful and amazing, but they don't draw attention to themselves. Also the regular rings can go right over top of them, as soon as they are done healing. I really don't anticipate any problems as most people wear some form of decoration on this finger if they are married and the symbolism is not in anyway vulgar. For an exceptionally paranoid boss they do make a tattoo concealer, but I don't anticipate needing it.

    I'm glad you love the verse. I do as well. It really does represent the form, function, and design of our marriage.

    Thank you for stopping by!

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