Our Engagement Story
Because we want to remember, years from now, how happy we felt the day it all came together...
Sometime in mid-November, 2003, John and I had a long discussion and decided together that we were going to marry each other. And then we kept it a secret...
We felt strongly that we needed a ring of some sort to make it official, since we have been together a long time, live together, and only have the vague "Summer 2005" as a date. So we talked about it, and talked some more, and decided finally to go out to a jewelry warehouse and pick up something small, plain, and, because we have no money, cheap. A few weeks passed. We had Thanksgiving dinner with good friends and it almost killed me to keep quiet about our news...but we still needed to go get the ring.
On December 1, John called his mom to tell her, and to ask if she had any old jewelry that she could let us have, "for parts" we said. I cried when he told her we were getting married (and basically didn't stop crying for days) and she told him that she had the perfect thing, or things, really, and that we could use whatever stones we wanted. But she didn't describe anything to us, so we just waited for it to arrive from Chicago.
We didn't have to wait long. She called later in the day with a tracking number, and sent everything overnight. On Tuesday, I stayed home from seminar to wait for the package. I typed in the tracking number, and the computer said there was no such package. I emailed John in a panic, and then called the shipping company, who told me that no package had been sent from Mrs. Salomone to our address. John, from school, emailed me that things would be fine, that I didn't have to worry, and I must admit that he remained calm throughout. I did not.
The package arrived just after noon, and because he knew I would have willed the envelope open with my mind, John had given me permission to open it up and look at it. So, I did. I mean, I had 4 hours to kill before he got home.
First I opened the beautiful diamond earrings, which are amazing, and then I opened the ring, and burst into happy tears. It was so delicate, and so beautiful. And I pulled it out of the box and looked at it and thought, "This is going to fit." So I put it on my right hand, just to see. The diamonds are arranged like a flower, with the center stone flanked by a branch of diamond leaves. And I cried. And cried. And called John's mom and cried. And then realized that I had 3 hours and 50 minutes before John got home.
So I did what totally made sense to me: I went and got the ring cleaned. Accepted compliments on it, and put it back in the box. Went to Trader Joe's to get groceries. Felt into my purse every 7th second just make sure the box was still there. Went home and left the groceries in the car by accident, and only remembered when I realized that I was VERY hungry and that we had no food. And with 90 minutes to go, decided that what I really needed was a manicure, because people would look at my hands.
So I hid the ring, in case robbers (or ninjas or monsters) decided to break in while I was gone, and walked down to the strip mall, and got a manicure. And pedicure. And eyebrow wax. And I would have gotten more stuff done except that I was out of cash and SO excited to get home.
John beat me home, and I pulled the ring from its hiding place (on top of the plates, because no robber (or ninja or monster) looks there, and he looked at it and said, "It's a little flower! But you LOVE flowers!" And we put it on, right there in the kitchen next to the dishwasher, and I cried some more, and got my hugs, and then we started making phone calls.
Jake took the news well. He put up with the hugs and scritches and then climbed into the linen closet and fell asleep.
The ring, incidentally, belonged to John's Great Great Aunt Elizabeth, sister of John's great grandfather. She never had children of her own and John's mom and her six siblings had her as a "grandmere du coeur". She was much-loved by her great-nieces and -nephews, and it means so much to me to be welcomed into her family, and to be entrusted with her ring.
-Stephanie
Sometime in mid-November, 2003, John and I had a long discussion and decided together that we were going to marry each other. And then we kept it a secret...
We felt strongly that we needed a ring of some sort to make it official, since we have been together a long time, live together, and only have the vague "Summer 2005" as a date. So we talked about it, and talked some more, and decided finally to go out to a jewelry warehouse and pick up something small, plain, and, because we have no money, cheap. A few weeks passed. We had Thanksgiving dinner with good friends and it almost killed me to keep quiet about our news...but we still needed to go get the ring.
On December 1, John called his mom to tell her, and to ask if she had any old jewelry that she could let us have, "for parts" we said. I cried when he told her we were getting married (and basically didn't stop crying for days) and she told him that she had the perfect thing, or things, really, and that we could use whatever stones we wanted. But she didn't describe anything to us, so we just waited for it to arrive from Chicago.
We didn't have to wait long. She called later in the day with a tracking number, and sent everything overnight. On Tuesday, I stayed home from seminar to wait for the package. I typed in the tracking number, and the computer said there was no such package. I emailed John in a panic, and then called the shipping company, who told me that no package had been sent from Mrs. Salomone to our address. John, from school, emailed me that things would be fine, that I didn't have to worry, and I must admit that he remained calm throughout. I did not.
The package arrived just after noon, and because he knew I would have willed the envelope open with my mind, John had given me permission to open it up and look at it. So, I did. I mean, I had 4 hours to kill before he got home.
First I opened the beautiful diamond earrings, which are amazing, and then I opened the ring, and burst into happy tears. It was so delicate, and so beautiful. And I pulled it out of the box and looked at it and thought, "This is going to fit." So I put it on my right hand, just to see. The diamonds are arranged like a flower, with the center stone flanked by a branch of diamond leaves. And I cried. And cried. And called John's mom and cried. And then realized that I had 3 hours and 50 minutes before John got home.
So I did what totally made sense to me: I went and got the ring cleaned. Accepted compliments on it, and put it back in the box. Went to Trader Joe's to get groceries. Felt into my purse every 7th second just make sure the box was still there. Went home and left the groceries in the car by accident, and only remembered when I realized that I was VERY hungry and that we had no food. And with 90 minutes to go, decided that what I really needed was a manicure, because people would look at my hands.
So I hid the ring, in case robbers (or ninjas or monsters) decided to break in while I was gone, and walked down to the strip mall, and got a manicure. And pedicure. And eyebrow wax. And I would have gotten more stuff done except that I was out of cash and SO excited to get home.
John beat me home, and I pulled the ring from its hiding place (on top of the plates, because no robber (or ninja or monster) looks there, and he looked at it and said, "It's a little flower! But you LOVE flowers!" And we put it on, right there in the kitchen next to the dishwasher, and I cried some more, and got my hugs, and then we started making phone calls.
Jake took the news well. He put up with the hugs and scritches and then climbed into the linen closet and fell asleep.
The ring, incidentally, belonged to John's Great Great Aunt Elizabeth, sister of John's great grandfather. She never had children of her own and John's mom and her six siblings had her as a "grandmere du coeur". She was much-loved by her great-nieces and -nephews, and it means so much to me to be welcomed into her family, and to be entrusted with her ring.
-Stephanie