People always ask about Laura Floyd’s wedding rings. She wears three of them in a stack, and if you catch a glimpse of her palm, you’ll see that one of the gold bands is broken: instead of a continuous circle, there’s a split in the metal.
The band makes everyone curious. Why wear a broken ring? Isn’t that bad luck or something?
Well, it turns out there’s a story behind that broken ring, and Floyd is happy to share it.
For her, the ring is a sign that something doesn’t have to be “up to society’s standards” to be full of beauty, memory, and meaning, and that material value can never replace emotion and experience.
“A lot of people ask me why I have three wedding rings, and one that’s broken,” she writes. “The broken one is not really broken; it had to be cut off when I had preeclampsia with my first child.”
There’s a lot of pressure on women to have the “perfect” wedding, the “perfect” marriage, and the “perfect” ring, as well as a lot of pressure on men to provide these things.
But for most of us, those ideas of “perfect” are just, well, not. They might look nice in the pages of a magazine, but they don’t reflect who we are, what our relationships are all about, and the struggles we go through every day.
Luckily, people like Floyd are here to show us that while our lives might not be picture-perfect, they just might be perfect for us, and that when you see the stories behind the so-called “imperfections,” they’ll suddenly seem beautiful.
[H/T: Love What Matters]
Laura Floyd posted this image of her three wedding bands, including a broken one.
The “broken” ring was cut from her finger during her first pregnancy, when she suffered from preeclampsia.
“I got a new set but I couldn’t let go of the cut one,” she says. “Me and my husband got married when I was 19 and he was 21. We were young and in love and pretty much broke.
“Our first set of ringsmaybe cost $300 total for mine plus his. To me, this broken ring is a symbol of love and never-ending faith.”
Preeclampsia is a complication of pregnancy that causes, among other things, severe swelling of the hands and face.
It’s a serious condition, and in Floyd’s case, her wedding band had to be cut off to prevent tissue damage to her swollen finger.
“We have been through so much in the past almost 10 years, but I wouldn’t trade him or my broken ring for anything,” Floyd wrote.
“I will always wear my broken ring. It’s my proof that even though something may be broken or not up to society’s standards it doesn’t matter. What matters is the pure love and strength we both have for each other!”
Soon, others were coming forward to show off their imperfect rings. One man showed that his wife, also named Laura, had a similar habit of wearing both her old and new wedding bands.
“My wifeLaura Olson Daniellshad to have her original wedding ring, which cost about $50, cut off during her pregnancy with our second child (who is now 31 years old). Long ago I bought her a new ring, but she still wears both!”
Another person, Tana Le Clair, showed her bent engagementband.
“We had a rough patch where bad choices were made and we fought for a very long time,” LeClair said.
“One argument I said in irritation, ‘If you are too disgusted by me to marry me, take the dang ring!’He tried and I clenched my fist so hard it bent.
“That was our last fight and we are now happily married with 2 beautiful children.People ask if I plan to have it fixed. No way. It’s a symbol of how hard we fought for each other.”
Sadly, we all too often get caught up in an unattainable idea of perfection and become obsessed with the things we’re “supposed” to have, while many times overlooking the wonderful things we already have.
One commenter on Floyd’s post summed it up pretty well:
“We are each on our own journey and what is best for us is for us alone to figure out… It doesn’t matter how much monetary value something has, what matters is how much it’s worth to YOU.”
We couldn’t agree more!SHARE this story if you believe that it’s the imperfections and the quirks that make thingsreally perfect!
Read more: http://www.littlethings.com/laura-floyd-broken-wedding-ring/
