New Rings!

So much has happened since I last blogged, now that summer is over and I'm starting to catch up at school (since the first quarter is almost over) I will try to produce some new news. This week particularly has been interesting, but for now, I will start with today!

Yesterday( I'm really starting with today - just hear me out) was my 60th birthday, more on that later, so today we went shopping for my birthday gift. I decided what I really wanted was a new diamond, bigger than my original diamond, in a new setting with a new wedding band too. What occurred took me totally by surprise and was not at all what I had planned out in my head.

After dinner, John and I drove to the jewelry store just to look and start getting some ideas of what I might like. The man helping us showed us a number of rings and was very patient with all my questions. He cleaned my original diamond (it fell out of the setting 15 years ago and has been sitting in my drawer, sealed in an envelope, since then); weighed it, and evaluated it for color and clarity.

Then he brought out a diamond that he thought would be similar in color and clarity but was twice the size. $1665.00. My little diamond it turns out is extremely clear and has only one tiny inclusion. It so outshone the bigger diamond that was supposedly about the same quality!

At this point, my emotions, which had been edging their way in took over. It caught me off guard, that suddenly I did not want a new diamond. I wanted MY diamond, the one that John bought for me 36 1/2 years ago when we were young and thought we were in love - really, we were in love, but now we're REALLY in love. The diamond that was small but that had always been very brilliant and sparkly! And I didn't want a new wedding band either. I wanted MY wedding band; the one that says "Eternally Yours 7-26-1974". My engagement ring, though it could be salvaged even though it was worn so thin, would cost three times as much to reinforce it and stretch it as to buy a new one. So when he brought out the engagement ring, almost identical to my original one, but new and beautiful, I was smitten and giddy! My diamond looked beautiful in the 6 prong setting (my original setting was 4 prongs).

Then, we looked at stretching John's ring to fit his finger. Unfortunately, it couldn't be stretched as much as his needed to be. So he is getting a brand new ring. It looks the same as the original one, except it is more comfortable to wear because it has rounded edges and more gold in it.

Monday, after school, we will drive back to the jewelry store and pick up our "new" rings and once again look the part of a married couple! I guess I need to get a manicure so we can take pictures and I can post them!