Married guys - yes or no on the wedding band?

Anyone who is married and has seen The Abyss knows that you never know when the ring might save your life.

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Mine is a family heirloom and I'd really like to get in a position next year (our fifth anniversary) to upgrade to something a bit more contemporary.

I had a lot of trouble getting it to comfortably work on my hand for the first year or so, probably just a function of being a 40-something who never really wore a ring after my freshman year of college.

Now, I take it off when I go to sleep and, usually, when I'm taking care of my various bits of business in The Reading Room.

I would never, ever venture outside without it.

 

For the record, I was joking, Birdscribe. Jeez. Since when am I ever cynical??

 

As others have mentioned, I take it off to go swimming.

 

However, most wedding rings aren't made out of Titanium. IIRC, that was once of the details that was provided in Orson Scott Card's novelization of the movie (yes, I'm a dork. I actually read the novelization of "The Abyss"). It was supposed to represent the strength of their love for each other.

 

Mine is.

The first one was white gold. But it slipped off while helping my in-laws roll a bale of hay out of a barn and into the horse pen. There was four inches of snow on the ground and we used metal detector but never did find it.

 

My wife is pregnant and had to take hers off. It's so weird. When she had started filling out but wasn't really showing, she was like, "I'm supposed to look like a pregnant married woman and instead I just look like a single fat chick."

 

I take mine off for golf. As a lefty, it's just too uncomfortable and I once pinched some skin with it and the blood blister that formed as a result cut my round short. I just slip it on my key ring. MrsExpendable hates when I forget to stick it back on and she finds my band still on the key ring.

 

Wow. When I covered baseball, I used to stand on the dugout steps at Chavez Ravine and lean with my hands on the roof, just like that. I guess I should consider myself lucky.

For the first six years or so of my marriage, I took my ring off pretty much whenever I got home. Now; it's on unless I'm sleeping, exercising or showering.

 

Didn't come off for the first 16 years or so. Then I got it re-sized, it was off for about a month, and then back on. Never take it off because I'm such a klutz I'd lose it.

 

I often take mine off when I type and always when I go to bed. Sometimes I forget it at home and I feel awkward all day without it, to the point I sometimes come home early to put it on.

Mrs. Right-brained always looks at me suspiciously when I come home without it.

 

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As for the ring being a chick magnet, I wouldn't know -- even when I was single, women needed to be pretty blatant (or their friend needed to tell me) if they wanted me to know they were being more than friendly, otherwise it usually went over my head. But I feel more comfortable beginning conversations with women now. I've got this thing on my finger that says I'm taken and I'm making no attempt to hide it, so you've got to give me a 50-50 chance that I'm not hitting on you, I'm just talking.