The Sparkly Ring

I knew about the ring.

In fact, I picked it out.

I just didn’t know when I’d get it.

But let me back up.

I found out Tom had been planning a vow renewal for over a year by accident. He was disappointed that I found out, yes, but it also made things easier to plan.

This was why he led me into Zales one day when we were in the mall. I admit I didn’t fully comprehend what was going on and said something stupid like, “Everything is so sparkly in here.”

And then Tom said, “You can pick out a new ring set.”

I felt like Reese Witherspoon in Sweet Home Alabama when she’s led into a room with the lights off, then the lights flick on and she’s in a jewelry store and she’s told she can pick ANY RING SHE WANTS!

Well.

It wasn’t exactly the same. I knew I couldn’t pick ANY RING I WANTED. After all, we weren’t rich. I knew our budget even though Tom didn’t have to say it.

There were so many rings. I went from one display to the next. I tried on various sparklers on my finger, one of which was gigantic (and way out of our budget but I just wanted to try it on JUST TO SEE). It turns out I didn’t care for the humongous rings. Some people might like to be ostentatious; I prefer the quiet, beautiful diamonds.

It’s why I never understand when celebrities or rich people walk around with those enormous rocks on their fingers. It just seems…wrong. It basically says, “My ring represents that I could feed multiple third world countries,” or, “I have a house on my finger!” Plus, wouldn’t the finger get tired? I tried on one ring that made my finger slant downward.

Tom also picked out a new wedding ring for himself. He found it in less than ten minutes. Then again, the man ring section is like a handful of choices. The girl ring section is….well, over half the store. Still, he was patient and told me to find something I loved. It was between two rings and I kept saying, “Which one should I get?” and he’d say, “It’s your choice. Whatever you want.”

You see, our old ring sets were cheap and falling apart. We weren’t purchasing new rings because we just felt like a change. We were purchasing new rings because we didn’t want our old ones to fall apart on our fingers. When we were married we were 19 and broke so we couldn’t afford much.

Now, fast forward almost ten years and we could…well, we couldn’t afford ANYTHING, as I mentioned before, but we had slightly more in the bank.

I stared at the two rings in front of me and tempted to go Eenie Meenie Minnie Mo but I was worried I’d scare the Zales lady.

In the end, I went with the right one.

And then we had to wait forever for them to resize my ring because I have TINY fingers (4 ½) so it took like 5 weeks to get back.

When they finally did come back I thought, “Yay, I get to at least wear my engagement ring!” which was the sparkliest but then Tom said, “Nope, you don’t even get to LOOK at your ring until I say.”

And by 5 weeks, I had forgotten what it really looked like in person.

So a couple weeks went by and I tried not to ask Tom when I’d get the ring back. When we went to Ohio he brought the ring and showed it off to all his family members and they’d all say, “Oh, it’s beautiful!” and I wanted to say, “Is it? Because I can hardly remember! All I can remember is the SPARKLES!”

But then one night Tom surprised me with the ring.

And yes, he got down on one knee.

My husband can be romantic. My husband, who freely burps in front of me and then tries to convince me that when he burps it’s a COMPLIMENT to my cooking got down on one knee and said some ultra sweet words which I’m keeping to myself. There are some things I have to hold in my heart, you see.

Clearly I told Tom yes and he slipped my new ring on my finger. I immediately shifted it from side to side and breathed, “It sparkles…”

It’s perfect.

And next month, we’ll be renewing our vows on our ten year anniversary.

Where?

Well, at the Branson Titanic museum. Tom planned that all by himself. He knows I’ve always had a thing for the Titanic. I can’t explain it. I just DO.

Yes, I’ll have a wedding dress. When I was married almost ten years ago I was seven months pregnant and had to wear a black maternity dress since it was the only thing that would fit me. Plus, I couldn’t afford anything else.

So yeah.

We’re renewing our vows.

Next month.