They were on sale the day after Christmas. Nothing fancy. Nothing exciting. Just two plain gold bands. A thicker one for him and a delicate one for me. That’s what you get when you marry at 19.
With the wedding just around the corner (at least that’s how it felt with stacks of wedding magazines and enthusiastic, wedding-crazed mothers in the mix), we knew we had to check one more item off the to do list. It didn’t seem that romantic to find the cheapest alternative at the Boxing Day sale. But, that’s what you get when you marry at 19.
We agonized about what to engrave inside our rings. We may have had a few less frills, but we didn’t want to skimp on the meaningful stuff. We wanted something that would still make sense in 10 – 20 – 50 years. Something timeless. We wanted something that would be ours. Something “us”.
And it has been. When you marry at 19, you grow up together. You live on a laughably small budget. You sacrifice. You change. You meet someone new. Someone lying next to you in bed each night and you fall in love with them all over again, every 10 -20 – 50 years. That’s what you get when you marry at 19.
Those plain gold wedding bands may not fancy, but they are timeless; they are “us.” Inside they say:
This is my beloved. This is my friend.
So here’s us, 18 years later… still skimping on the extra frills, but heavy on the meaningful.
Once again, linking up with lisajobaker.com for 5 Minute Friday writing flash mob:
On Fridays around these parts we like to write. Not for comments or traffic or anyone else’s agenda. But for pure love of the written word. For joy at the sound of syllables, sentences and paragraphs all strung together by the voice of the speaker.
We love to just write without worrying if it’s just right or not. For five minutes flat.
Here’s how we do it:
1. Write for 5 minutes flat with no editing, tweaking or self critiquing.
2. Link back here and invite others to join in {you can grab the button code in my blog’s footer}.
3. Go and tell the person who linked up before you what their words meant to you. Every writer longs to feel heard.
So Here's Us... 
February 15th, 2013 at 1:49 pm
Love this, love this, love this. Congratulations on keeping the meaning in your relationship over the years.
February 15th, 2013 at 5:02 pm
Thank you! It’s an ebb and flow but overall we’re in the win column for what matters! That’s the best we can do.
February 15th, 2013 at 1:57 pm
Love that! Very precious post and it’s wonderful that you’re proving that young love can last. It’s all about focusing on what’s important. Wishing you many many more years with your beloved.
February 15th, 2013 at 5:06 pm
Thank you! Though I tell my girls to wait until they are older… I wouldn’t change a thing!
February 16th, 2013 at 3:52 pm
Oh so beautiful. I laughed, because my daughter married over the summer. She was 20 (now 21) and her fiancé also 20. His ring was purchased for $40 on Amazon, and they live in very small in-law cottage and have barely any room to breathe. But they love one another!
February 17th, 2013 at 4:58 pm
Definitely not the norm these days, but there’s a romance and adventure that “grown up” marriages don’t have. Hearing about your daughter makes me feel all sappy and nostalgic. Good for them!