Chapter Seventeen: "Ringy Ding Ding."

We drove down to Solvang to look at antique rings. I knew I didn't want anything flashy or typical or... BORING. I wanted something with history, character, and a story behind it. Something old. Unique like me.

We hit the stores and looked and looked for a long time, and I didn't find anything that just jumped out of its case and grabbed me. We were just about to call it a day, when I breezed by a case of rings marked with a SALE sign. I stopped, went back, and looked inside. Sitting there was a ring that caught my eye, so I asked the store clerk if I could take a look at it.

Antique stores are tricky, because you never know how expensive the ring you're looking at is until you pick it up and look at the little tag on the inside of it. Those antique dealers are sneaky that way. So, I tried not to get too excited as the woman pulled the ring out of the case- just in case it was $10,000 or something. When she placed the ring in my palm, it fell apart.

In a good way. It fell apart because it was TWO pieces, a wedding band and an engagement band, which is what I deep down really wanted but had been willing to sacrifice because not many antique rings ARE two pieces. They have usually been fused together at some point. But this ring, it fell apart and I squealed.

This is the ring in all its Sapphire-y goodness:

I also spoke more about the ring here.

When I saw the price of this ring, I nearly passed out. FROM JOY. It was less than we'd hoped to pay, ($300 range) so I made Chris buy it for me right then and there- just in case someone came by later and bought it before we did. He let me wear it out of the store, and then he snatched it away from me again.

I wasn't meant to have it just yet.

When a girl knows that the man she loves is in possession of a ring that he intends to give her (along with a proposition) in the near future, she can become quite, how shall I say? Skittish. Every situation could potentially be "the" situation. Every date could potentially be "the" date. Every dinner could potentially be "the" dinner. And on and on and on.

I was watching Chris like a hawk. Sweaty brow? Possible proposal. Oh wait, it's just a million degrees outside. Nice dinner PLUS sweaty brow? IMMINENT PROPOSAL. Oh wait, that's just spicy Mexican food he's eating. I was on eggshells for two months.

Then came my birthday. Chris told me he was taking me somewhere secret for my birthday, and that I couldn't know where we were going until WE SHOWED UP THERE. This was SO exciting to me, I love surprises! I jokingly leaned over to him on the couch and said "We're going to Disneyland, aren't we?" I hadn't been to Disneyland since I was a little girl.


Little did I know, I'd just deflated the surprise quite a bit. But Chris acted calm, cool, and collected, like I hadn't just GUESSED THE SURPRISE on the first try. He still played the fool, and I really had no idea where I was headed. The big birthday weekend came, and we hopped in the car and headed South. The whole time I joked about heading to Disneyland, while my poor boyfriend bit his tongue and tried to hide his mounting distress at my Disneyland jokes.

I was clueless to the fact that the biggest surprise wouldn't even be our destination location. Chris has A WHOLE LOT MORE up his sleeve. I was sure this was just a birthday thing, and the thought of a proposal had never even crossed my mind.

I'm convinced that, to this day, there has never been such an elaborate and successful and amazing marriage proposal in the history of all time...

**to be continued...**