I'm not sure when it was exactly that Mr. Chickadee expressed his desire to go ring shopping with me, but I'd known for a while that we would do it together and I was all for this idea. I wanted to have some input on the ring I would wear every day of my life and he didn't want the pressure of picking out a ring on his own. So it was the perfect arrangement. Last summer we started looking at rings, and I knew almost immediately what I wanted.
The story of my own engagement ring starts on a day in September with my sister. It was just barely over a year ago that my older sister turned 23 years old. But that's not all: that afternoon I got a call from my mom explaining that my dad was in the hospital and would be going into emergency open heart surgery. Everything sort of crumbled around me and I was still numb later that afternoon when my older sister called and let me know she was flying down to Texas to be with the family. And then, right before she hung, in this uncharacteristically quiet voice, she told me she had gotten engaged.
Hours later, when Mr. Chickadee and I arrived at the DFW airport and my sister rushed us to the hospital, I almost forgot to ask to see the ring. My jaw dropped when I saw it: she had my ring! Princess cut, three stones, pave band. Yep, you know the one. It seems like everyone who got engaged last year has that same style. But not me, oh no, I wasn't about to get the same style of ring as my older sister.
Slightly disappointed by the change in plans, the search for the perfect ring continued. Mr. Chickadee liked the look of the solitaires but I always felt strange when I tried them on. I have tiny little hands and they just seemed to stick up sooo far from my finger. I felt like it was some sort of weapon, not a piece of jewelry! So what else was there? I was ring shopping at the places in the mall, and I felt like their designs were uninspired; a diamond atop a piece of metal and that's it. Additionally, these other kinds of ring seemed considerably more expensive than the three stone style we'd originally liked. Keep in mind, too, that we were just a couple of college students whose bank accounts were less padded than we would have liked.
So we plodded along, knowing we had a while before we got engaged, stopping into jewelry stores whenever I could drag him to the mall. And then one day it happened. I just got the "this is it" feeling that I would later get with my dress and those cuter-than-cute Kate Spade shoes (which I am still hoping will fall into my possession miraculously for less than $100). The lady at the shop was quick to point out the dazed expression I was wearing upon seeing the ring and even asked if she needed to take me over to Starbucks for a while.
We declined the offer, but both agreed that the ring was quite perfect for me. It was so in proportion to my hand. The band is so slim, unlike so many of the others I tried on that seemed to take up way too much space. The setting made it seem nice and big on my little finger without overwhelming me. And, my favorite part was the way it looked from the side. It's hard to describe, but the band splits into two and the top part swoops up to meet the side of the diamonds, so there's none of that weapon-like pointiness sitting atop my hand. Perfect!
So I left the store that day empty-handed but cheered by the thought that someday that ring would be on my finger. And sure enough, a few months later, it was, looking perfectly shiny and sparkly (and a perfect fit to boot!). I look at my ring every day and couldn't be happier. I've seen a lot of rings over the last few months of being engaged, some bigger, some shinier, but I still haven't found one I like better than my own!
So, I know what you're thinking, let's see it already! Well, your wish is my command. One thing, though, engagement rings seem notoriously hard to photograph, so these are less than ideal photos.
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