A Collar -or- A Ring???

What do I mean by this?

For the D/s couples I know and respect a collar is the outward sign of their commitment to one another. For the vanilla couples, it is the ring you wear to symbolize your love for one another. For a D/s couple that "collar" might be made of leather, chain mail, stainless steel, or just a chain with a heart on it inscribed with His/Her initial on the front, slave or submissive on the back. Whichever collar is chosen it is worn daily as a symbol of the pact/agreement/contract between the Master/Dominant and submissive/slave. For the vanilla couple that ring is made of gold, platinum, silver, tungsten, or white gold, and it symbolizes the commitment made to one another. 

Mainstream society at the moment is being tantalized by the "Fifty Shades" series by E. L. James, or the "Crossfire" series of novels by Sylvia Day. Both novels deal with BDSM, both are sexually explicit  however the "Crossfire" series of novels are psychologically intense, more intense for me at least than the "Fifty Shades of Gray". Both trilogies delve into something "we" as people prefer to keep hidden behind closed doors, "Our Sexuality". I am not talking about being straight  bi, or gay, I am talking about the dark deep hidden secrets you keep to yourself, because you feel if someone knows, they may judge you. If you cannot be honest with who peers backs at you in the mirror every morning, then it is time you do some soul searching. 

Divorce is at an all time high in this country, maybe it is because it is too easy to obtain. Granted I would NEVER tell a woman to stay in an abusive marriage, EVER!!!! However, it seems that most couples getting married today do not see the long term picture. My grandparents were married for 16 years when my grandmother died in 1937, my grandfather never dated or remarried, when he passed in 1970 he met the love of his life once again in heaven. My parents were married for 42 years when my father passed away, they fought, they loved, they ignored the temptation of divorce because they loved one another; when my mother died, I realized that the day we laid my father to rest something died inside of her, the part of her heart that belonged to my dad.

You see D/s and vanilla couples are not that far apart on the spectrum of things. Both couples want the same things they just go about it in a different way. A D/M gives his s/s a collar as an outward sign of his love and devotion  a vanilla man gives his wife a wedding ring as a sign. A collar, a ring, both are SYMBOLS of the commitment each makes to one another. Both couples like dinners out, movies, dancing, a ball game or two or ten, vacations, etc, however the place that changes everything is at the bedroom/dungeon door. Only the two involved in the relationship can decide what is "right or correct" for them. So for the vanilla woman or man who reads this whom decide to take a walk on the wild side, try it, you never know you may like it.