Things I Never Knew About My Parents

My mother did a lot of traveling on her own before she met my father. This is the woman who freaks out when I go hiking alone, so I was a bit shocked to learn that when she was my age she was solo trekking through Mexico, partying with complete strangers. When I asked her why she never told me about this, she said, "You never asked."

Well, of course I never asked. It never occurred to me to ask. Who asks their mother, "Hey mom, I was just wondering, did you ever tramp through a foreign country all by yourself doing drugs with total strangers?"

Okay, I doubt she did drugs, but really, it was the seventies, so I can't be too sure.

Tonight I found out that for the first twenty years of marriage my father didn't wear his wedding ring. I explained that the purpose of a wedding ring is so that people know they can’t hit on you when you go out (although being a symbol of everlasting love and commitment might have something to do with it). “I don’t go out," my father told me, "and I don’t wear jewelry.”

My mother doesn’t think this is weird because apparently her father never wore his wedding ring either. He was a welder by trade and supposedly the ring was a safety hazard.

My father is an insurance executive. What’s his excuse?

I hope this isn't some kind of generational curse, and all the women of my mother’s lineage are destined to have husbands that don’t wear their wedding rings. If I ever get married, I suppose I'll find out.