{"id":669,"date":"2025-12-14T12:47:33","date_gmt":"2025-12-14T12:47:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vibepress.us\/?p=669"},"modified":"2025-12-14T12:47:36","modified_gmt":"2025-12-14T12:47:36","slug":"the-ring-she-never-wore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vibepress.us\/?p=669","title":{"rendered":"The Ring She Never Wore"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-cover aligncenter is-light mycontentblock has-medium-font-size wp-duotone-ffffff-ffffff-1\" style=\"margin-top:0;margin-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--50);padding-top:0;padding-bottom:0;min-height:97px;aspect-ratio:unset;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"186\" class=\"wp-block-cover__image-background wp-image-198 size-large\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/vibepress.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-04-at-2.47.25-PM-1-1024x186.png\" style=\"object-position:50% 50%\" data-object-fit=\"cover\" data-object-position=\"50% 50%\" srcset=\"https:\/\/vibepress.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-04-at-2.47.25-PM-1-1024x186.png 1024w, https:\/\/vibepress.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-04-at-2.47.25-PM-1-300x54.png 300w, https:\/\/vibepress.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-04-at-2.47.25-PM-1-768x139.png 768w, https:\/\/vibepress.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-04-at-2.47.25-PM-1-1536x279.png 1536w, https:\/\/vibepress.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-04-at-2.47.25-PM-1-2048x372.png 2048w, https:\/\/vibepress.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-04-at-2.47.25-PM-1-1320x239.png 1320w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><span aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-cover__background has-background-dim-0 has-background-dim\"><\/span><div class=\"wp-block-cover__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-cover-is-layout-4d396166 wp-block-cover-is-layout-constrained\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center my-cover-title has-ast-global-color-8-color has-ast-global-color-5-background-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color has-small-font-size wp-elements-61e1979db296e079d68715faf950b65c\"><strong>The Ring She Never Wore<br><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-e72fb36bd7fa4794a8498f9ac16fbd03\">I met a woman, and I knew she was the one. I joked, \u201cWe should get married.\u201d She agreed. We eloped the next week, and it felt like a fairytale. But one day, I noticed <strong>she wasn\u2019t wearing her wedding ring. She looked embarrassed<\/strong> and admitted she had lost it a few days ago and didn\u2019t know how to tell me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n    atOptions = {\n        'key' : '9e49f4ce267f7bab92bbdb38b733742b',\n        'format' : 'iframe',\n        'height' : 90,\n        'width' : 728,\n        'params' : {}\n    };\n<\/script>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"\/\/brillianceremisswhistled.com\/9e49f4ce267f7bab92bbdb38b733742b\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-be34e2d18453eb312cf6766d8ca4f101\">At first, I laughed. I thought maybe she left it on the sink while washing dishes or dropped it in her purse and forgot. But the way she avoided my eyes, the way her voice shook when <strong>she said it\u2014it didn\u2019t feel like a silly mistake.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-80c697e587340b97e9a23f165f0ae8fd\">\u201cAre you sure you lost it?\u201d I asked gently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-24a140545f06c30242420ed33a439bbb\">She nodded, biting her lip. \u201cI\u2019ve looked everywhere. I even went through the trash. I think it slipped off when I was in the garden.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-dd7a2ad628e2d260ce1c6715ea795d54\">She loved gardening. Every morning, she\u2019d be out there talking to her tomatoes like they were her children. I used to tease her for it, but secretly, I loved how she brought life to everything she touched.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-d3de72de04b7c285d08c26d7a49ccf2b\">Still, something didn\u2019t sit right with me. It wasn\u2019t about the ring\u2014it was the way she seemed distant after that. Like a curtain <strong>had dropped between us.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-e36f90abb294cbf092a88f0a82531d33\">I didn\u2019t press it. I figured maybe she was just upset with herself. But as weeks passed, she stopped gardening altogether. She stayed inside more. She\u2019d stare at her phone a lot, typing and deleting things. And every time I walked into the room, she\u2019d lock it and smile too quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-3b04a4a155d7c42ac3a599957ddc6461\">\u201cEverything okay?\u201d I asked one evening, sitting beside her on the couch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-2c550fbd18da1d42549ebf6b0e7bf692\">\u201cYeah,\u201d she said. \u201cJust tired, that\u2019s all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-bf14e4d5d68768d525a6c25fcef004ab\">But I wasn\u2019t convinced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-2fd97cb3b69a6b9b41ffeade4d5ef9e9\">I started doing little things\u2014offering to help with dinner, bringing her favorite chocolate, even suggesting we go on a weekend trip. She\u2019d smile and nod, but her heart wasn\u2019t in it. I could feel her slipping away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-9e8815cc12953f14a7a7497e6dcbed47\">Then one afternoon, I came home early from work. I had a headache, and I thought I\u2019d surprise her with her favorite tea. But when I walked in, the house was quiet. I heard faint voices upstairs\u2014her voice, and someone else\u2019s, over speakerphone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-79f4066209046f31f886b471cd2f972a\">I stopped at the bottom of the stairs, not wanting to eavesdrop, but I couldn\u2019t help it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-860d4ee64d246a5a72d3c7073b78ae52\">\u201cNo, I haven\u2019t told him,\u201d she was saying. \u201cIt\u2019s not what you think. I just\u2026 I feel guilty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-c99f142f6a60fba37e6c5d3d8cfec050\">There was silence, then a man\u2019s voice: \u201cYou need to tell him. This can\u2019t go on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-e955229db575c126a81fbc3f432eb325\">My stomach twisted. I didn\u2019t know who the man was or what they were talking about. I just knew something wasn\u2019t right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-68d54d693b500eb5a9cada1936c6416c\">I walked upstairs, made a little noise so she\u2019d hear me. She snapped off the phone quickly and met me in the hallway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-31a3e704e1191050d9becf26c3892aea\">\u201cYou\u2019re home early,\u201d she said, voice too bright.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-1970c02b8401dfb0e3fe0b76f68250a9\">\u201cI didn\u2019t feel great,\u201d I replied. \u201cWho were you talking to?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-db4348b64d5f16c1944b3c0193bd47ef\">Her smile faltered. \u201cJust a friend.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-e920c8dd4f1e0153746aa57873fb5117\">I nodded, but I could feel something shifting in me. Trust doesn\u2019t vanish all at once\u2014it frays, slowly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-fac043154775a500fbcece73eda39108\">The next few days were strange. She tried harder\u2014cooked more, laughed more, touched my arm more. But it all felt rehearsed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-7ccd0ec39581f31d87c4f78538a3e168\">Then one night, I found her wedding ring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-895f08f8d5835714d400c278905aa580\">It was in the drawer of her nightstand, buried under old birthday cards. I just stood there staring at it. I didn\u2019t touch it. I didn\u2019t take it out. I just stared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-8550a9510e7370bca6e17b9b1754c086\">When she walked in and saw me looking, she froze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-1c723664f6b32a17b23351cd96f2e4e3\">\u201cYou found it,\u201d she said softly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-41a382c9bacd44222fb5803db589fc60\">\u201cWhy\u2019d you hide it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-ae3872edcd1fa84e5611615bc4b823c2\">She sat on the bed, staring at her hands. \u201cBecause I didn\u2019t know how to explain.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-9885a234279e259b9316bc6c68c5f47d\">\u201cTry me,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-6d8e4a4f1fa10bceb89bcce0afb2cf41\">She was quiet for a long time. Then she looked up, and there were tears in her eyes. \u201cI didn\u2019t lose it in the garden. That was a lie.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-80b26fd0fea4f028ef4e2d1728d0fb81\">I waited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-a52288a46bff4a8dd321ffcdaf66a005\">\u201cI took it off because I didn\u2019t feel like I deserved to wear it anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-d06dc8b8375f981564f9041d772fd22c\">That hit me like a punch. \u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-9cfc9b36df943a570c2d4f4578d0b59f\">\u201cI\u2019ve been talking to someone. Someone I used to know. Before you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-47e65995894325029c10e98229fdcfcd\">I felt my heart slow down like it was trying to protect itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-79b2c90ce0714c8966536662eda2ec50\">\u201cIt\u2019s not what you think,\u201d she said quickly. \u201cI didn\u2019t cheat on you. I swear. But I started talking to him again a couple months ago. At first, it was just catching up. But then I started comparing. And I felt guilty. Because you\u2019ve done nothing wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-f18e7cc8a89feecdd2cca0f07e54aaf4\">I sat down, my hands shaking. \u201cSo what do you want?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-32ea16dba9427369285fbf130288d251\">She didn\u2019t answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-3f90261c7650ca275833f4b3d2767246\">I left the room. Slept on the couch. I couldn\u2019t even look at her the next morning. Everything I thought I knew about us was suddenly cracked wide open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-0d2d46a97e3ee29bdb8d836884c5b38b\">Over the next few days, we barely spoke. But I kept thinking\u2014she hadn\u2019t cheated. She told me the truth, even if it was late. She said she felt guilty, not excited. There was a difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-a4eaf454878386f5e63327757df7fd99\">Then I got a call from my mom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-a1bf3bb749ddc0bd56e3bb89b403b132\">She said, \u201cI saw your wife at the grocery store. She looked\u2026 different. Sad.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-21a9102a1bbc0bc52c38d85fcb32fd78\">That night, I asked her to talk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-dd90a881bc17dada42384c9f731c2abb\">She sat across from me at the kitchen table, wringing her hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-b340fbb56657bd86b607a59b8ccf81a8\">\u201cI messed up,\u201d she said. \u201cI should\u2019ve told you sooner. I should\u2019ve cut it off the moment I realized I was using that conversation to escape my own doubts. It had nothing to do with him, and everything to do with me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-e2a6ef9b02b7403527b36bddadf3081e\">I stayed quiet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-fa388c7ae813436ad765e937f174b1bb\">\u201cI thought I wasn\u2019t good enough for this kind of love. That I\u2019d mess it up eventually. So I tried to sabotage it before you realized.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-3e10aa51a78e537c6ec76cc39c254882\">I looked at her, and I didn\u2019t see betrayal. I saw fear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-67f87e1bef8f5b4c07203277c40468d3\">\u201cDo you still want this?\u201d I asked. \u201cUs?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-acefcba31e914a0ae20ff57fac941aa8\">\u201cYes,\u201d she said. \u201cMore than anything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-1862ee520ec4785975d527f54e05eff4\">So we started over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-85cd2eacc0d4abf0a9d63f3be62de1c4\">It wasn\u2019t some magical movie moment. There were long talks, tears, a few nights where we slept apart. But something started to rebuild.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-1074b270f941bd0e02d950f2bb81034b\">She started gardening again. I found her one morning humming to her tomatoes. It made me smile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-6b93bbf9dbfcf44d19abacf6c4e36ceb\">We went to therapy together. Not because we were broken\u2014but because we wanted to understand each other better. And ourselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-924cca0458a6510cc80d333d8bed3b89\">She wore the ring again. Not because she felt like she had to\u2014but because she wanted to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-0d66b75ed3410a85f40938a4a8e56bfc\">A few months later, I had a surprise for her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-5bf451f46f85f12e4ac74f20f4a069a0\">I took her to the little chapel by the lake, the one we had passed a dozen times but never gone inside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-ad109ef657c8cbf5e19f12f1de2f5a2f\">She looked confused.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-815850d9b4d5482c224feedb70751d3d\">I smiled. \u201cLet\u2019s do it again. Let\u2019s renew our vows. This time, with everything on the table.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-6a1e5addf993cfa4fd6a92bec4fa3158\">She cried. I did too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-9ba2160351af240a7a0f88009053c2b1\">There was no one else there\u2014just us, the breeze, and a pastor who happened to be fishing nearby and agreed to step in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-5de647a8db6c8ad167a0c28097085e33\">We spoke from the heart. No script. Just promises we meant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-6e26ad20d4afd7132169a5ece4faddd4\">Later that night, she gave me a box. Inside was a new ring\u2014plain, silver, but engraved on the inside: I choose us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-808f73e4268d004d0c15b663178036fd\">Years passed. We had our share of rough patches, like anyone. But we always came back to that vow, that ring, that choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-e28d4aff0828537f326e7a0ebb5bff59\">One morning, we got a letter in the mail. It was from the man she\u2019d reconnected with years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-44532f22a849ba34c5e3087ad43bb4fd\">He wrote, \u201cI\u2019m sorry for the part I played. I was going through a divorce and didn\u2019t realize I was dragging your wife into my mess. I just wanted to say thank you. You both taught me what commitment looks like.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-2c3408ce90bf04cfed76f08a6d43ea39\">Funny how life works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-f4a385623ac89addbb327f376e047701\">A few weeks later, my wife came home with a smile I hadn\u2019t seen in a while.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-0fb02249dc07ae60f6fdd94692411a1b\">\u201cI met someone today,\u201d she said. \u201cA young woman at the farmer\u2019s market. She said she\u2019s thinking of eloping with her boyfriend.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-bc6419732553a6ea4be7f60099ce16e1\">I raised an eyebrow. \u201cAnd what advice did you give her?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-cbc94d0c69cebc45085d7b4f5f35039d\">She grinned. \u201cI told her to make sure she\u2019s ready to choose him. Not just once\u2014but over and over again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-0055ac871eee8baac4d10f2e579b8d3c\">I laughed. \u201cYou\u2019re becoming wise.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-8db6f03b03137d3e0d1518f7ad40bffc\">She kissed me on the cheek. \u201cI learned from the best.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-92a2619dae55b631cb16e686571f8c2d\">Looking back, I realized the lost ring wasn\u2019t the problem. It was just a symptom. A quiet cry for help. And thank God I listened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-d4f9aa6384b06fab8a6d5fbf0ccd57eb\">Sometimes, the people we love won\u2019t know how to ask for help. They\u2019ll act out, push us away, or hide behind small lies. But if we dig deeper, we\u2019ll find the fear behind it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-ae0d94bf0e576e4c46fdaeff7ad5ee6e\">And if we\u2019re brave enough to face it with them\u2014we can turn a broken moment into something stronger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-d21130a463a9cc1776c4451c0126af1c\">Love isn\u2019t about perfection. It\u2019s about repair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-49b1e755fb5e33e2634f746a50d5972f\">So here\u2019s to the rings we take off, the words we regret, the doubts we face\u2014and the choice to stay, even when it\u2019s hard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-c30b2552502d5f121f5e7e88890399b4\">Because in the end, that\u2019s where the magic really is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-4ecea29431d5255d99c8c6e5d9b0ba5a\"><strong>If this story moved you, share it with someone who needs to hear it. Maybe they lost a ring too. Maybe they\u2019re just scared. Either way, let them know\u2014there\u2019s hope. Always.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I met a woman, and I knew she was the one. I joked, \u201cWe should get married.\u201d She agreed. We [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":670,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"disabled","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vibepress.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vibepress.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vibepress.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vibepress.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vibepress.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=669"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/vibepress.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":671,"href":"https:\/\/vibepress.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669\/revisions\/671"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vibepress.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vibepress.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vibepress.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vibepress.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}