A.R. Geiger

Do you know something? I haven’t worn my wedding ring in three or four months now.

I took it off around the end of October, I think. Or maybe before. My hands were swelling, my Preeclampsia was progressing and soon would land me in the hospital for an unexpected and unwanted induction, and the eczema caused by all the pregnancy hormones was tearing my hands to shreds and making them bleed.

It just wasn’t the time to be wearing a ring of any sort.

But I slipped it on again this morning. It’s back, safe and sound. My swelling is gone. The eczema is still hanging around, but it’s manageable, and I don’t bleed as often as I used to.

Slowly, things are going back to ‘normal’.

Except they’re not. Because Adam is here, my body is different and probably will never be the same, and even my brain and my soul seem to have changed at their most fundamental, basic levels.

So maybe ‘back to normal’ isn’t the right way to say it. Maybe it’s just ‘finding a new normal’. One that I can embrace and find myself in, despite the enormous changes.

At least my ring still fits. Some things—the most important things—have lasted through the crazy.