The Wire Ring

i had another birthday.  it was a bit of a strange event, but I'll take it.  i don't try to hide from birthdays.  i love birthdays.  i love a good reason to celebrate--anything.  i love that people take tim to call or to make me feel special.  i suppose it is a time to remember you are loved--and everyone likes to feel da'love every now and then.  presents didn't come bursting down my door like they do when you are younger, but that is okay.  the gift from my mom would have been very hard to beat.  she gave me a very precious gift...one that brought tears to my eyes and a love for this incredible example of perseverance.  my mom turns eighty-one this year.  she wrote this poem for my birthday:

A Band of Gold

This little band of white and yellow gold

Is tarnished, old, and worn.

Like me, I guess, the shine is gone

And looks a mite forlorn.

But bound within this circle small

It held a family dear.

Just look beyond this tiny band

That used to shine so clear.

You'll see a lifetime spent with love

For each and everyone.

Friends and families dwelled within

Each daughter and each son

Were held with love so tightly there

Safeguarded there within.

The little flowers have faded now

Long carved upon this ring.

And though it's now a simple wire,

It's praises now I sing.

Because this ring was chosen long ago

And given with such love,

May its circle be unbroken

When we gather up above.

and, she gave me her wedding ring that my dad gave her sixty-two years ago.  it is the ring that she always wore even when the little engraved flowers were worn off and the gold and white gold band became a band of worn gold, "the wire," as my dad used to call it before he died.  he bought her a new bright and shiny ring years ago but she still cherished this one and continued to wear it.

there is so much to this ring.  my parents did not have an easy life or an easy marriage.  there were losses along the way that took their tole on both of them.  they lived life simply.  meals were made from scratch.  dad worked from dawn to dusk and rarely took a break trying to provide the basics for our family.  mom sewed our clothes in between sewing for people from town.  dad had to haul water every week because we did not have city water.  mom taught art lessons.  dad never raised his voice.  mom would make bread and cookies that would fill our home with delicious smells as we returned from school...and she sang.

one time mom left dad.  he asked her to come back and try with him again.  she did.  things were not always easy but they toughed it out through thick and thin.  towards the end of dad's life they seemed to finally get on the same page and they were kinder and gentler towards each other.  ...and the wedding band, even though it might have hung on by "a wire," still held strong. 

this ring is so much more than a wedding ring.  it is a symbol of two people who did not like each other at times, but they were dedicated to each other and they made life work.  i miss my dad.  i miss him so bad sometimes that it hurts.  but the memory that I think of the most is that he cherished my mom in his own way and he was faithful to her until his very last breath.  and, the love continues to grow for both of them.