Ring! Ring!
Ever since I was in high school, I've pretty much felt that marriage was not something important to me. Commitment, yes, but not a ceremony. In my mind, getting married was stupid. Most marriages end in divorce, so why bother going through the expense of it all? Common law was the way to go, because my verbal vow to be faithful and his vow to do the same should be enough. Make it so.
I never expected to be in this place. But, as it became apparent that Brett and I were something special, we talked more and more about this. He was very much against my view of commitment because it makes it too easy to walk away. It got to the point where he said that he didn't think he could continue to date me if I was set on this view of my future.
But he had already made me examine a lot of other opinions that I held and I decided that, if I wanted to be with him, then I'd have to change a few things. That doesn't, however, mean that I have to have a big do-do, with the white dress and the hall and the fancy invitations. Unless, Brett reminded me, that was what I decided that I wanted.
Yeah. Right.
Around Halloween, we decided we needed to start thiking about what we did want.
Vegas, baby. Crazy, wacky, fun, anti-Bridezilla (cuz you know I WOULD!) Vegas.
But what about the ring? I knew I wasn't a diamond girl. But I didn't know what I was. Part of me wanted to NOT have one and just wait for the wedding ring. But I knew it was important to him. So, after much searching of the intarwebz, I decided that what I really wanted was a ring that symbolized both of us via our birthstones (which, luckily, look pretty good together).
So we went out shopping and eventually found a setting in a catalog at Hampton Jewelers in Lansing that we loved. It came in shortly after Thanksgiving, so we went in to look at it. I put it on and immediately started to bawl. Brett ordered the stones that night and didn't show it to me until the proposal.
So, without further adieu, here it is:
