You Must Have A Ring Story

As Sheryl Crow puts it, "diamond ring don't mean a thing" and for a long time I felt the same way. Diamond rings are no big deal.

That was until I actually had marriage on the mind as a real possibility. That's when diamond ring became a bit of an obsession.

And of course, I panicked.

I mean what kind of ring did I want? I'm not accustomed to wearing rings. What will I ever do with something so expensive on my finger? I can't fathom having someone spend so much on something so small. Would I ever be able to put my left hand in my pocket again? I'm going to have to put everything in my right pocket from then on.

So I made the practical decision to look for something not too big, not too small, pretty flat as to facilitate pocket digging, and not too pricey. And then I had to wait for Mr. Fox.

You see, Mr. Fox was scared to buy intimidated by the idea of buying the ring on his own and surprising me. He knows I am particular. He wanted me to be happy and satisfied. (*big smile*)

So I took this to mean that I had to hunt down my own ring and present him with options on how to buy. I was unfazed by this idea. Actually, me, the lover of control, decided that this was the opportune way to ensure I got something I really wanted, sans dramatic Carrie response (like I talked about here). So I went on an internet hunt to some of my favorite jewelry sites like the Shane Company (a throwback from home), Blue Nile, and pretty much anywhere else the random internet search turned up. After my study of the 4 Cs, I figured the easiest (and most cost effective) way to get what I wanted was to find a setting and then pick a diamond. I presented my findings to Mr. Fox.

But Mr. Fox still refused to make the purchase on his own. He wanted guidance. What this meant was that we spent an entire Saturday afternoon screen sharing over Skype. Yet, even after the lengthy discussion over price and value and investment and blah, blah, blah, Mr. Fox still refused to take the plunge and buy the surprise ring.

So we compromised. (Compromise: (n.) the key to successful relationships; almost like getting what you want)

Our Compromise: Mr. Fox was coming to visit a few weeks later where we would be attending a conference together in Chicago. We'd have a few days in NJ before and after the trip, thus we could fit in the ring shopping. Plan made!

Now that we had a plan of action, I decided to take a peek at a shop in the local mall, preparing for Mr. Fox's visit and impending ring purchase. I found this ring:

I thought I had found "the one". Source.

I tried it on and fell into immediate infatuation. It was so sparkly!!! It looked so lovely on my pinky finger!!! It wasn't terribly expensive...

I was so infatuated that I basically put a hold on the ring with the pushy sales woman and told her that I would return with Mr. Fox later that week to rescue my infatuation and make it mine.

So when Mr. Fox arrived later that week, we promptly went to the mall for a whirlwind shopping trip hitting 4 different jewelry stores, saving "the one" for last.

It was educational, to say the least.

In the first store, we were entertained by a lovely lady who turned Mr. Fox on to the idea of the solitaire. Interestingly enough, I really had very few concrete criteria going in to all of this and NO SOLITAIRES was one of them. So having Mr. Fox being so interested in such was a bit of a nightmare at first.

However, when that guy has an idea that has sound reason behind it he can be really persuasive. His newly discovered idea was this:

"If you are buying a diamond, why hide it with a lot of other diamonds? The reason a diamond is so beautiful is because of the way the light reflects inside of it. If you put many lesser quality diamonds around it you are essentially wasting money because you do not actually get to experience the quality of the largest and most expensive diamond."

That crap makes sense.

So somehow I found myself agreeing with this guy and going along on the great solitaire hunt.

But we still had not yet visited the jeweler where I had placed "the one" on hold. I saved her for last. Yet, after hearing all the hype, when Mr. Fox finally saw "the one" his only real response was a damning, "it's not you."

I was crushed.

Strangely, when I had that little sparkly on my pinky finger again, I had also felt the same way. My infatuation was gone.

So after some hurt feelings (not mine) and Mr. Fox getting to practice his fantastic ability to unapologetically say "No" to anyone, we left, exhausted and ringless.

But then along came Chicago and their lovely Diamond Row. However, the problem was that we were pretty unexcited about ring shopping again. We were tired of pushy sales people and not finding something that really fit the bill. I conducted another internet search trying to find a store on The Row worth visiting. Neither of us had any desire to schlepp up and down some long street peeking in every shop with diamond rings in the window.

My search turned up something that looked like a gem. I was a bit skeptical of it at first due to the uninspired name of Wedding Bands & Co. but there were just too many great reviews to ignore. Additionally, they are an actual jeweler and design their own jewelry and creativity turns me on. So we reluctantly dragged ourselves over to the shop in question.


We were greeted by a lovely salesman named Victor. He was friendly and stylish, clearly knew his stuff, and made us quite comfortable. Big plus: he was not at all pushy. 


So we did it: we made the BIG purchase! Our fantastic experience with Victor, plus the lovely settings and assortment of stones that he showed us helped Mr. Fox to find that ring that is uniquely me (that he would later use to torment me for several days like I wrote about here).


I couldn't be happier. (*big smile*)

Mr. Fox's tangible gift of love.