Well, to begin
with, I didn't really know what I wanted in a ring for Sarah. I've never really
looked at my mother's, or any other lady friends or co-worker's wedding rings.
But, I was defiantly not very open minded about the possibilities.
Sarah first dragged me into Sears because we have around $800 of credit
available. She found a couple of sets she liked, but nothing that *I* liked all
that much. Sure, it was convenient that the rings were there and the $$ was
available, but defiantly not what I had been assuming I'd be purchasing. What was
apparent, however, was that I wasn't necessarily in control.
See, the rings there were more... gaudy than I had expected. The rings had
multiple diamonds, smaller 'baguette' rectangular diamonds, and sometimes weird
looking patterns and engravings. They seemed rather large and thick, and not
very... they weren't what I wanted her to have. I feel that this ring and
diamond are to be a powerful symbol of our relationship, and I didn't want some
big lame looking contraption on her finger. However, as we left Sears, Sarah
seemed kinda dejected. She kinda liked one of the Bride-and-Groom ring sets, and
she also told me later on that she wanted the engagement ring soon because she
felt REALLY uncomfortable doing wedding preparation stuff without a ring on her
finger. And, honestly, that made perfect sense.
After two weeks of me procrastinating, my mom came down and helped me out. She
has always gone to this small jeweler here in Escondido for EVERYTHING, and she
knew that he'd help me out. Dave, the owner of Old Mission Jewelry, had Mom and
I sit and go through his foot-high stack of catalogues for us to find the right
setting. He already had a 1/3 carat diamond that I liked a lot: Great color and
clarity, with two very tiny "inclusions" or bubbles.
I found a couple of settings I really liked, so I brought Sarah in a few days
later. She wasn't too hot on my choices, but there was one setting that we both
liked a lot that I didn't give much notice too previously. I really liked its
simplicity of a single solitaire on a nice looking ring, with no flashy doo-dads
or anything to detract from the stone. We didn't purchase it then just because I
wanted to check around some more. I hit FedCo (Now gone out of business) and
hated everything there. Most of the stores in the Mall seemed too expensive, so
I really didn't focus much time there. I just really liked the ring and rock at
Dave's. So, once again with my mom in tow, we hit Old Mission Jewelry and
purchased the ring from Dave.
Two weeks later I came by and picked it up, and it was perfect:
Dave with Sarah's new engagement Ring
The engagement ring
So, my experience was rather painless. I really thought that the ring would be
really expensive, and that I would be the one who chose this important symbol of
our relationship. No, actually, it ended up the ring was, after shopping around
and having someone who pointed me to the smaller family-owned jewelry store,
that the ring was not all that expensive. And, sure, while I got to be the one
who purchased the ring, I could not have done it without Sarah's opinions and
wants in a ring. Ends up being really cool: The symbol of our relationship for
all time is something that she and I both deliberated over and chose together.
:)
I proposed to Sarah June 13th. Our first kiss was during a picnic up at Dixon Lake here in Escondido. We often go up to that exact same spot for picnic lunches, and that Sunday was no different. It was a lovely day, nice blue sky, ducks swimming on the lake, and us laid out on our blanket talking about stuff... Our conversation rambled on about our futures, a house, kids, and whatnot. At this perfect time I rolled over, sat up on to one knee, and with her on her back looking up at me, asked her if she would marry me. She cried yes, and that was that. It remains the happiest moment of my life.. I mean, this was the first step of us being together, forever, and I was and still am so very... happy. content. satisfied. jazzed. fulfilled. stoked. excited. All that. :)