The Engagement Ring and the Necklace

When Shawn and I were first married, we barely had enough money for a pair of $40 wedding bands.  I didn't get an engagement ring because we were a little busy buying more important things.  We really didn't even have an engagement, per se.  What we had was a positive pregnancy test, then about four weeks to plan a wedding!  Having dated in high school, having known each other for as long as we had, and dating again, we knew we were eventually going to get married, but Noah's arrival kind of helped hurry things along a bit!

Fast forward a bit....  Life happened, things got in the way and the engagement ring was just never important to me.  There was always something else we needed, a bill that needed paying.  A diamond ring just wasn't practical.

A few months before our fifth anniversary, Shawn started making a very big deal out of a package that I would need to sign for.  Computer parts, he kept telling me.  The day these oh-so-computer-parts were set to arrive via Fed Ex, Shawn had to drive me to a doctor's appointment in the city.  While sitting in the exam room waiting on my doctor, Shawn received an email notification that Fed Ex had attempted to deliver the package, but couldn't because we weren't home to sign for it.  I honestly, for the life of me, could not figure out what the big deal was over these computer parts.  I was so exasperated with him!  It was a Friday, so Fed Ex would deliver them on Monday, no biggie!  I still think we used some sort of time warp machine to get back home that afternoon, where Shawn began calling the Fed Ex people to find out which warehouse his computer parts package had been returned to.  Just his luck, it was right down the road, only about a 30 minute drive away, but the warehouse was closing in 20 minutes!!!  So yes, you guessed it--off we went, with Shawn driving like a mad man.  Over these computer parts.  Unbelievable.  We got his computer parts, got home, life settled down.  Whew.  That evening, we farmed Noah out to Shawn's brother and SIL so we could go out to dinner.  On the way to the restaurant, Shawn pulled over in the downtown area of our little town and suggested we take a walk.  Then, right in front of one of the prettiest displays in a floral shop window, my husband of almost five years dropped to one knee, pulled a small box out of his pocket, and with people gathering around to watch, Shawn told me how much he loved me, and that he'd marry me all over again in a heartbeat.  Yes, the "computer part" was my engagement ring.

It never bothered me that I didn't have a diamond, but unbeknownst to me, it had become a sticking point with my husband.  It was a matter of pride for him.  He'd researched everything he could find about diamonds, about diamond companies, about settings and everything else diamond.  He even measured my finger while I was sleeping one night.   No ordinary diamond ring would be good enough for Shawn's wife; I deserved the best.  It's definitely very pretty, but really, Shawn put so much thought and love into researching and purchasing my ring, that it's more beautiful than any other ring I've seen.  To me, it looked so big that I was afraid to wear it for weeks!  To my husband's chagrin, that "computer part" sat in it's box, tucked away in my jewelry box for quite a while.

Monday of this week, Shawn told me in passing that some new memory for his computer was on its way. I'd need to sign for it, blah, blah, blah.  Yep, okay honey, sure.  The box arrived today and I put on his desk without giving it a thought.

Truthfully, I wasn't expecting anything other than a kiss and a hug for Mother's Day this year.  We just had the driveway paved, we're doing some landscaping, and there are a gazillion other things that are more important than a gift I don't need.  So, when Shawn called the boys into his office to have them help him open his box of memory, I still was not catching on.  But, here it is, my beautiful, unexpected, thought-out Mother's Day gift.  I have to say, Shawn's always had pretty good taste in computer parts.

Sooner or later, if enough computer parts come in, I might eventually catch on to this wonderful little charade of his.