Starting a Blog

I made the mistake of telling my friend McKenzie that my new year's resolution was to start a blog. When you tell people about resolutions, they hold you to then. Five months of procrastinating, some peer pressure text messages, and half a bottle of wine later - here it is.

Beyond actually gathering up the courage to start a blog, the hardest part of this whole process was coming up with a name for the blog. McKenzie had the great idea of going with something Irish. My dad's side of the family if from County Cork, and my Irish heritage is a huge part of who I am. What I didn't know until recently was that the claddagh is a part of a group of European finger rings called "fede rings" which comes from the Italian phrase "mani in fedi" or "hands joined in faith," making the ring that much more special as my mother's heritage is full-blooded Italian. Given that my idea for this blog is to write about the various relationships in my life and my journey towards giving the most I can on my end of these relationships, it only seemed natural that I should model if after the tennants of a claddagh ring.

So what is a claddagh ring? It's a traditional Irish ring worn by young women to signify friendship. The design is of two hands holding a heart with a crown. The hands symbolize friendship, the heart symbolizes love, and the crown symbolizes loyalty. The finger you wear the ring on, and the way it's turned (either heart pointing out or heart pointing in) signifies your relationship status: the original status update.

I bought my first claddagh ring at a jewelry store in Galway during a trip unlike any other. My college roommate, Christine, and I traveled to Ireland during our junior year spring break to visit our friends studying abroad. This trip to Ireland was the most unbelievable, unforgettable vacation I've ever been on with stories that I have told over and over and over again and will continue to tell til the day I die - maybe in one of these blogs I'll get them down in black and white!

When I bought this ring, I promised myself that I would only turn it once. I had visions of having my future husband turning it when he proposed or incorporating it into the ring ceremony during our wedding. However, the heart had different plans. About two and a half years ago, I met the love of my life. About 6 months into our relationship, I was sent to Ontario, Oregon for a clinical rotation as a part of my physician assistant education. Leaving M was much harder than I had anticipated...even though it was only for a short five weeks. One lonely day in Ontario, I decided to turn my ring. Although symbolic (and one that admittedly he knew nothing about at the time) that gesture brought me closer to M, and our relationship has continued to grow every single day since then. I look forward to the day when the claddagh ring gets "demoted" to the right hand by another more symbolic ring. Be it on the left hand or the right, M has captured my heart and the ring will remained turned only for him.