Taking a Vow

People commonly make promises, engagements, and even vows of marriage, and bestow their lover a ring. I, however, chose to express my vow of devotion to the love of my life in a way that I cannot reverse, exactly how I feel a marriage should be.

Shortly thereafter him and I had got our marriage license and fulfillment on December 31st 2015, we both began looking for rings or something to symbolize our vow to one another, but we couldn’t afford a huge ticket amount at the time. Saddly, my spouse also had to return to Illinois for some time, but still I was figuring on how to express my vow to the world. Being so discouraged seeing so high of pricing for rings, I didn’t feel I was fulfilling my marriage to the best it could be.

Around the time after his birthday, late April, in 2016, I suddenly got an idea: get a tattoo as my “ring”, so to speak. I went to my artist, who has done ALL my tattoos, and his apprentice was who was going to draw it, colorize it, and tattoo it!

After enduring a nice warm tickle to becoming a molten hot bee sting for 2-3 hours, the masterpiece was finished and it was so vibrantly flawless, I was astonished that it was the first tattoo his apprentice had done! Immediately, I sent a picture to my spouse and showed him what I had done. He was puzzled and wondering why I got it the way that I did and in a foreign language. I translated it for him, “Ya Lublov Tebaya” or “I love you.” Then I explained, “Russian was the language of choice, because it is a language that is direct to the point and is strong in tone. As well, it being in a foreign language since you cannot understand how much love I have for you.” Lastly, I explained the snowflakes and the winter theme of it, “When water freezes, it turns to ice. Ice is a state when it is perfectly still and remains the same, identical to the love I have for you; Never changing nor never ending.”

After I explained that, he knew then that was my “ring” for us and to this day, I still get the most compliments on it and I smile every day when I see it. I know that it was a vow I won’t ever regret taking.