a proper ring

After two foiled attempts David and I finally made it ring shopping on Saturday. It was quite a fun day, which is just what I wanted. I mean, who wants to be glum while buying an engagement ring? We decided to go to the Toronto Jewelry Exchange. One of our friends got his fiancé’s ring there and suggested it as a good place to go. I had also noticed their prices in the window when I was downtown one day and thought they would probably have something more in our price range than Peoples etc. would. I mean, we are students.

It was so much fun to stroll through this giant jewelry mall looking at hundreds of different rings. I ended up getting the second ring I saw, but we looked at all the different jewelers’ wares before deciding. The woman who sold me my ring had said that I should go with the one that gave me the happiest feeling, and based on my initial reaction she knew I’d be back (which ended up being true). I guess it was that obvious that I liked it. It’s funny, because the ring embodies three things I said I did not want—white gold, hearts, and diamonds surrounding a sapphire. But I found it so pleasingly crafted that I just could not find anything I liked better. Only one other ring came close, and it was not a unique setting like this one.

We were also both distracted for a while by an antique-style sapphire setting, similar to a ring I’d found online (you may remember it Hannah--I think I found it on the site we looked at together). Fortunately David noticed I did not seem to have the same reaction to it as I’d had to the ring I got, because we were close to buying it. It was actually hard for me to choose—the ring I got is much nicer and of finer quality, but I really love antique settings and am more generally drawn to “old fashioned” things. The sapphire in it was crooked, no matter which way I turned it—and who wants a crooked stone? So we stepped outside and talked and settled on the one I got: 18 carat white gold, a heart shaped blue sapphire (it’s a plump, jolly little heart, the only kind I like), surrounded by 14 diamonds (they are clustered enough together that they don’t look spiky, which is what I dislike on most rings where gemstones are surrounded by diamonds).

They were able to resize the ring in under two hours, so while that was happening I took David out to lunch at Hard Rock Café. It was quite fun—we were both full of a happy glow of being engaged and having [finally] gotten the ring. At the restaurant the margarita I ordered was so full of salt that you couldn’t taste anything else, so I sent it back and because of that the manager kept dropping by to make sure we were enjoying our meal. The extra attention made lunch even nicer. We are both so busy with school that we haven’t had this much time to devote to being together and doing something fun in a while. It was so lovely to be out of the house, focusing on our relationship instead of on school/housework, so lovely to be alone together.
***
I am really into symbolism and I think that is one of the reasons I love the elements of this ring so much. White symbolizes purity. Blue: loyalty, strength, new beginnings, faith, protection (among others). Sapphires and diamonds both stand for eternity/forever. Hearts, of course, for love. The midnight blue of the sapphire, surrounded by the twinkling diamonds, reminds me of both deep spiritual nights and nights star-gazing with David, and blue & white also happen to be the colours of the Virgin (although one could argue that hers is not a midnight blue). You may think I’m reading too much into a ring, but I appreciate my ability to read this much into it and to take it beyond the regular symbolism of an engagement ring and into something truly special to me. I cannot say that I chose it with all these thoughts in mind, but they have been forming since I brought it home.

The ring David proposed with.

Heading out for our adventure

My lovely ring

Shiny!