Two Hearts on My Finger

Here is a close up of my engagement claddagh (two hands clasping a crowned heart) with a pink tourmaline stone. Below it is the ring Michael proposed to me with--his wedding band. It is white gold with Celtic-inspired cuts and swirls that make it look like a band of diamonds. I wear both with immeasurable pride.

Michael and I met through an online dating site when we were both about to despair of ever being matched with anybody we liked--that much you know. What I haven't said yet is that after two weeks of exchanging messages with him through the site, all the time marveling to myself at the beauty and sincerity of his responses, and how poetic and thoughtful and honest they seemed, he and I decided to disable our accounts on the website and communicate only through text messaging on our phones.

This turned out to be ideal, because Michael is legally deaf, with only about 40 percent of his hearing, which would have made it very hard to carry on a traditional telephone conversation! Even a webcam wouldn't really have helped in our situation, since my voice is pretty soft, and I would have had to shout at him to get anything across:)

So texting it was, and texting we did--with gusto--for a month. Although he and I were only separated by a short bus ride with him in Grand Rapids, Michigan and me in Eau Claire, Michigan an hour south, he chivalrously chose to delay the meeting until enough time had passed.In the meantime we got to know each other better and better.

His sense of humor always brightened my day, and the fact that he was a paraplegic was fascinating to me, rather than frightening. At the same time, I found it flattering that he seemed to be fascinated by my mild Cerebral Palsy,  and we had many animated conversations about the things we've dealt with over the years because of our disabilities.

We found out about a number of interests we share; music, books, history, mythology...especially mythology. It was then that Michael explained to me the importance of October 31st to the Celtic faith. It is their New Year"s Eve, and symbolizes new beginnings and sloughing off the disappointments and frustrations of the previous year. That's why it was a perfect day for our wedding, although at that early stage we weren't talking about that!

Once we finally met, we both could sense that our searches for some one perfect had ended:) A month of texting nearly nonstop every single day had made any physical surprises in our appearance irrelevant. His dark brown hair and dark hazel eyes were all that mattered to me, and pretty soon although my right eye turns slightly inward, Michael couldn't stop complimenting me on my "baby blues."

Now I wear an engagement ring for myself, and the wedding band that he would wear if it didn't interfere with his manual wheelchair rolling. Two hearts on one finger. Unity.