{Wedding Band}

As the wise Dr. Rev. Harter says, wedding rings are "outward signs of an inward reality". When Cory and I became engaged we didn't put a ton of thought into our wedding rings. We had an idea of what we wanted and after looking at one jewelry store, we found it. On July 10, 1999 Cory placed a diamond and sapphire wedding band on my hand and I put a yellow and white gold band on his finger. We said "I do" and the rest is history.

I'm often reminded of Dr. Harter's words when I look at my wedding band, though. I love it not for its beauty but for what it represents. Cory gave me this ring when I was just 22 years old with the promise that he would love me forever. And love me he has.

This Joy of Love assignment was to photograph our loved one's wedding band or some other significant piece of jewelry. The ring was supposed to be on that person's hand, but Cory doesn't wear his ring. His outward symbol of the reality of our love and marriage is almost always in a drawer. It makes appearances on his hand on rare occassions: weddings and, well, weddings. Every now and then he'll put it on if we're going somewhere special, but not very often. It's not that he doesn't want to wear it (although I do believe he is uncomfortable with it on), but his job makes it impossible. His hand is in some compromising places on a daily basis and a ring would easily become lost forever if he wore it. I'll leave it at that.

I do love his ring. I had it engraved on the inside with the words, "My Valentine" and our wedding date. My Valentine by Martina McBride was the first song we danced to at our reception and Cory truly is my Valentine every single day our of lives.