New Versus Old

The story of my engagement.

When Rob and I started dating, we knew almost right away we were perfect for each other. Our joke was that we were so different that no one else could possibly understand us. We had finally found a person that maybe didn't understand the flaws, but accepted each other for who they were and all flaws were accepted as "normal." We discussed this probably after only a month of dating. In all of my other relationships, the word marriage was never discussed. Here I was in a long distance relationship with a man and we were talking about marriage on our 4th date.

Eventually (after about a year), we started talking rings. What kind of ring would I like? I was like "Honey surprise me." He informed me that he didn't want to surprise me because he feared picking out a ring that I would hate and that I would hate this ring the rest of my life. So would I please go with him to pick out styles of rings that I would like. So a shopping we went. One weekend (probably another 4 to 5 months later) we shopped and I saw one I really liked. It was "Oval" with three diamonds on each side to form a triangle. The band tapered in to meet the " 3 diamond triangle." The setting was also cut low (meaning for me that the diamonds didn't stick way out).

He was fairly certain he would buy this ring since the smile on my face resembled an upside down rainbow. The following weekend, he encouraged me to come back home so that I could look at it one last time. Since we had gone in so many places and seen so many diamonds, he wanted to ensure he picked out the one I had in my head.

Now keep in mind this is a 5 hour drive TO get to him and a 5 hour drive to get BACK to school. So I drove back to him for the 2nd weekend and we went straight to the jewelry store. I couldn't find the ring. I was in an immediate panic thinking someone had bought the ring I loved. I was disappointed. I described it to the jeweler and she informed me that they had NEVER had a ring like that. It sounded unique and different, but it just wasn't something they sold.

Of course it was that moment, Rob looked down and said "what is that?" There it was .... my ring. We walked out and within 2 minutes we walked back in. He didn't want to chance that it would move out of there before he could buy it. So he whipped out his credit card and bought it on the spot. They measured my tiny fingers and commented on my tiny hands. They told him it would be a few weeks until it was ready due to the huge difference between my hands and the actual ring (remember I wear a 3 and 3/4 and it was a standard 7).

Well the next Friday, he calls and begs for me to come back down. I fuss and am extremely upset about the 10 hour trip for the third weekend in a row. I had lots to do that weekend for my studies and I was getting behind. Finally, I remembered I had to come home sometime anyways for my parents to sign some school loan paperwork. So it wouldn't have been a wasted trip. So I booked it on down there and tell him that I have to go home to get my parents to sign the papers.

So he takes me the rest of the way home (which was another hour & a half) and passes the house. I start fussing again. "Where are we going?" "I said I needed to go home." We eventually wind up at Golden Corral. We eat and he tells me the first joke he told me before we were even dating. I'm thinking it's so nice, but on the other hand .. I had a lot to do and I needed to get back to college. I'm concentrating on the time and not looking at what's really going on. We leave there and he starts driving.

Again, I'm like "Where are we going?" "I need to get home." He mumbles something about wanting to take me to the lake just to relax before I head back to college. So we wind up at Kerr Lake. We walk around and it dawns on me that we are essentially redoing exactly what we did a few days before we started dating (including the whole "Where are we going ... I need to go home." ironically enough). We stayed there a little bit and get back in the car. He then drives me to the rock quarry and while I'm standing there thinking I need to take all of this in and stop thinking about the time ... he pops down on one knee and pulls out the ring. Now the rest is kind of a blur, but I had to say YES twice because he was so nervous that he didn't hear me say yes the first time! :o) He places the ring on my finger and we both realize it's way too big.

We want to go tell my parents right away and we arrive at their home and they aren't there. I was shocked. Where were they? It took them both quite a while to get home and the story of me telling them is priceless. It's a day I will never forget. Unfortunately because the ring was so large, I couldn't take it back to college with me. Here is the photo of our hands on our wedding day. I'm sorry you can't see the ring that well.




Sorry that you can't see it that well. This is the best picture of my original ring and I can see the ring in the picture better in person. I took lots of photos of my OER (original Engagement Ring), but this was before the digital age and none of them turned out well. I wish they had, but we weren't going to waste all of our 35mm film on taking photos of my hands. Now I wish we had since all I have is my memories of that ring.

I love my new ring though. It reminds me of me. It's got all the old "bits," but with new bits too. I am the same me from 2000, but I have only gotten better since then. My engagement ring "grew up." :o)

And here is another view of my NER (New Engagement Ring)


and the view you saw earlier