The Ring Part 2

For the first couple of days, having a ring on my finger felt strange. I spent a lot of time staring down at my hand - in the kitchen, in the bathroom, outside in the sun, outside in the shade, while driving, in the mirror, under streetlights, while I was wearing blue, with hot pink nails, with no nail polish at all. After MUCH deliberation I decided that it sparkles the best in Jason's mom's kitchen, our bathroom and in the sunlight. Now, I'm aware that that sounds slightly strange, but the obsessive behavior didn't stop there. I quickly realized that I was afraid to do anything with my left hand. When I took Trouble for a walk, I held the leash in my right hand and when I drove, I gripped the steering wheel with my right hand. I took off my ring several times a day to wash my hands, just to make sure the ring wouldn't get dirty and wouldn't put lotion on afterwards. Luckily, as the days went on I got a little less OCD and a little more more comfortable with it and realized that driving and walking the dog weren't going to do any serious damage.

Along with my new level of comfort came smudges and dust and I became convinced that my ring no longer sparkled the way it did when Jason first slid it on my finger. And so began my quest for the perfect way to clean it. I did research on the internet and found a few different at-home remedies. After trying to clean it with a microfiber cloth, spritzing it with a pressurized air duster to dislodge dust (my coworker walked by mid-blast and looked at me like I was crazy), cleaning it with warm, soapy water and soaking it in watered down Windex I gave up and purchased an actual diamond and precious metal jewelry cleaner. After a 30 second dip in the little jar and few swipes of the magic little brush, my ring looks like it did 3 weeks ago. Enter my new obsession - cleaning my ring!

As odd as it felt in the beginning, my finger feels naked without it now, which brings me to my next challenge...dropping it off at the jewelers for a couple of days to have it re-sized. It seems that in these few short paragraphs I've already managed to share more than enough of my strange and embarrassing habits and obsessions with you so we'll save my upcoming separation anxiety with my ring for another post. :)

Until my next Happily Ever After...<3

The Ring

Those of you who know Jason know that he never makes a decision without doing his research first. Whether he's deciding which is the best flat screen on the market, comparing the ingredients in different dog treats or calculating the perfect combination of water, sunlight and fertilizer for the plants in our garden, he doesn't make a move until he feels confident that he's gathered all of the information necessary to make the most informed decision possible.

After being aware of (and benefiting from) this habit for so many years, it came as no surprise to me that when he proposed, not only did he give me the most dazzling diamond I've ever seen, but he also gave me a long lesson on the "4 C's" of diamonds - cut, clarity, color and carat. I won't go into details (I'm sure if you really want to know Jason would be more than happy to share his 4 C's knowledge with you), but lets just say that the diamond is nearly perfect. At first I was hesitant to post pictures because I knew they wouldn't do the ring justice, but thanks to my beloved Canon Rebel (another well-researched-by-Jason purchase), they turned out better than expected. They still don't show the beauty and sparkle of the ring, but I love it too much not to share!

The Proposal

When you've been together as long as we have, the element of surprise is hard to come by. Although I've always known that Jason was the man I was going to marry, it wasn't until the past year that I really started to think about a ring and a proposal as a near reality instead of just something that would happen down the road. The past 6 months, especially, have been extremely nerve wracking. Every trip to Tahoe or dinner out seemed to have the potential for a proposal lurking behind it. I even thought I might find a ring in the potting soil when we planted our garden together in May. The trips and dinners came and went, along with our anniversary and my birthday, but still no proposal.

Fast forward to Wednesday, June 15th. I hadn't been feeling well all week, so despite the gorgeous 80 degree weather outside I was relaxing on the couch after work. Jason walked in the door and asked if I felt well enough to take Trouble for a hike in the Santa Teresa Hills before dinner. After deciding that a little fresh air might be good for me, I agreed. We got our hiking clothes on, grabbed some water and headed out the door.  In true Jason fashion, a short hike turned into a long hike full of "lets just go a little further" and "I just want to see whats on the other side of that hill". Just as the sun was starting to set we got to the top of the highest hill. The view was breathtaking, the breeze was refreshing and the sunset was gorgeous. We soaked it all in for a couple of minutes, but decided we had better give Trouble some water and then head back before it got dark. As I was pouring the water in his bowl, Jason turned his back to me and started fiddling in his backpack. After a couple of minutes of fiddling, telling me he needed to make sure his keys didn't fall out of the bottom of his backpack and offering me his jacket when I was obviously sweaty after an hour long, warm weather hike, I suddenly realized that the only thing that could make him act THAT nervous was a proposal. I started to get nervous myself and, not knowing what else to do, turned around to see what Trouble was up to. I finally heard the fiddling stop and when I turned back around, Jason was on one knee (broken back and all), with the ring box in his hand and a, "Will you marry me", coming from his mouth.

Over the past nine years I've had so much time to imagine what our proposal would be like and now that it has actually happened, I can't imagine it happening any other way. I never would have expected the happiest day of my life to fall on a Tuesday, but it did and it was perfect and it was "us". After all these years Jason still managed to create the element of surprise and I can't wait to see what surprises await us in the many more years to come!