funny story...

My engagement ring is still pending. While this is, apparently, a very big deal to some girls, I like to say that he wouldn't dare buy a gift for me without my approval first, so we're off on a good foot.

There were rumors of some kind of family stone that Dan's mother had mentioned in one of her laments about not having grandchildren, but when we met with the parents we asked if there was some stone in the family that had sentiment attached to it and the answer was, well, it was no.

But that's okay! Dan wanted to design a ring for me anyway! He found a nice family place that was great to work with and they gave him a fair price on a nice little platinum number made to his exact specifications. Saturday morning we went to take a look and it was great! Just needed a few tweaks and a final sign-off and that thing is off for casting! So this morning he stopped by the shop, gave 'em a thumbs up and a non-returnable thousand dollar deposit and I'm going to have an engagement ring in a couple weeks. At which time my engagement will feel that much more real.

A couple hours later he gets an email from his mother. Apparently, when she died, his paternal grandmother's engagement ring had been set aside for just this occasion, has been held by his uncle for the last 20 years for whatever reason, and there is an early 50s vintage platinum ring with a square diamond in his mother's possession as we speak. Waiting for my elegant little finger.

I did weakly inquire as to whether perhaps the loss of the thousand dollar deposit might be worth not spending another couple thousand dollars on a ring that is no longer needed, and was told, pretty unequivocally, that no, that was not an option. So I suddenly find myself awash in valuable jewelry.

If I wore real jewelry with more frequency, I might consider turning Grandmother's ring into some kind of pendant, but honestly, that's not really my thing. Maybe I'll wear them both on different fingers, round out the look with eight other rings and go for the gypsy look.