I put my wife’s pictures away when I began dating 6 month ago. I had already stopped wearing my wedding ring earlier that year.
I removed the ring to keep from alienating any woman who might see me “in real life” and want to give me her number.
I put the pictures away because the last thing I want to do is make any woman I am dating uncomfortable when she visits my house.
Ha! I needn’t have worried.
Nobody has ever approached me asking for a date or offering her number or even casually flirting – ring or no ring.
And none of the women I dated ever cared enough about me to give a shit about my feelings for my deceased wife.
It occurred to me this week to put my wedding ring back on because I really like it. It is a simple white gold band that I’ve worn for more than 30 years. I’ve been wearing it every day since and it feels right.
I’ll be hanging Ellen’s pictures back up this weekend. I miss seeing her smiling face. The pictures bring back memories of our best times.
I am planning to be solo forever. Should that change, I suspect any woman I get involved with will not care about the rings and pictures. Or if she does, she’ll care enough about me to understand.
If not, chances are we won’t be together for long.