The One

I saw this at Susannah's page (the awesome lady behind Simple Moments Stick) and just HAD to jump the band wagon:

The topic of this month is The Ring. I would like to share the story of my special ring with you:

Background:

I had been engaged twice before meeting Richard. The first time, we were kids and madly in love. He never actually proposed per se, but he had been talking about marriage and we were committed to eloped once I'd turn 18; needless to say, there was no ring. He was a really good guy, but life just lead us apart, him back to the US and Iraq, and me on to college in Germany. A few years later, my second engagement happened, he actually proposed several times, on his knees. Well, it fell apart in a big mess; no ring involved there either.

Two year later, I met Richard online, and a week later in person. From the very first moment I knew that he was the one; he asked me on our second date if I would come to the States with him and we started talking about our wedding, but he had not officially proposed yet. One Friday, we were hanging out at his place, waiting for his friend to come over for dinner. Richard noticed that he had run out of toilet paper (just saying it as it is), so we got ready to head out to the shoppette really quick to get some more. I was just putting my shoes on, when he said: Wait a minute! - I turned around and he went down on his knees asking me to marry him. I was bawling, standing there with one shoe on... It had been spontaneous on his side, so again there was no ring yet, because he had not found The One yet.

The Ring:

Since Richard hadn't found anything online and at the tiny on-post jewelry store, we headed out the next day to go ring shopping in Bamberg. I wanted it to be a ring from HIM to ME, so I did not want to get involved in what he picked but only acted as a translator for him. We had agreed on white gold, since we also would get matching wedding bands later. Several stores later, he still hadn't found what he was looking for. He didn't it to be just a generic ring. Eventually, we ended up in this tiny store run by a gold smith. Richard looked around and ended up ordering a ring to be made especially for me. He picked out the band and stone and explained how he imagined to setting to be.

It took another week until he went on his knee again, on an icy Sunday evening in December, and putting the second-most important ring on my finger. It was perfect and showed all the thought he had put in it. It was simple and classic, yet still unique and special. It was all me!

I had been asked in the past when I looked at jewelry if I was on the look for an upgrade for my ring. No, I'm not! I don't have a huge stone, but I have what I wanted, and I'll wear this ring for the rest of my life, because this is the ring he gave me as symbol for his heart over 7 years ago, and no other ring will ever be able to match that.

The Ring with our wedding bands