Will you marry me?

On August 31, 2001, Babe took me and Jay to dinner at the restaurant where we had our first date. It was there that he asked me to marry him, in so many words. See, Babe isn't your traditional kind of guy, he prefers to buck the system in most areas of his life and his proposal was no different. Instead of "Will you marry me?" It was more along the lines of, "Will you spend the rest of your life with me?" After asking Babe if he remembered what he said (he didn't) I didn't feel so badly that I didn't recall the exact verbage either. Being true to Natalie, I proceeded to cry while our six-month-old Jay kicked her high chair in delight. You would've thought she knew what was going down. I obviously said "yes", but looking back on that day (and that ring!!) I remember the flood of emotion I felt.

This afternoon I was watching "Spiderman 3" and got a kick out of Aunt May's recollection of Uncle Ben's proposal to her many decades prior. She showed Peter her ring and said when she received it she thought it was the sun. That described my feelings when I received my own ring very well. Now I didn't exactly think my diamond was the sun, but I remember feeling so very special because this was the #1 ring on my list.

We were poorer then, had a baby in tow, I worked part-time while Babe worked and finished college. So if you've ever seen my engagement ring you might see how I thought I'd been given the sun because it was a pricy bauble for us back then. I chose that ring because it was ME. It is princess cut with a bridge of diamonds running underneath the center. It is simply beautiful to me, even nearly 6 years later. The other rings I'd chosen were cheaper and smaller in carats, but I didn't care which he chose for me because I was already thrilled that I was going to be his wife.

But Babe didn't choose #2, #3, or #4, he chose #1 and that says a lot to me. I still get compliments on its beauty - I just felt incredibly precious to him because he took great pride and care in choosing the symbol of our love he would allow me to wear for a lifetime.

Then in our recent move...I lost it. I didn't tell Babe for a few days, only asked if he'd seen it by chance. After it went MIA I decided to tell Babe and he didn't flip out - he never does. He simply told me we would pick out a new one, even if it was just a diamond band, when we could. Babe knew, and knows how important my rings are to me. After some time I got used to the idea of a new ring, but I wanted my original back - I loved that ring, I missed my ring. My band is too big now so I couldn't just wear that so I was going to head to Walmart, yes Walmart, to get a band that fit. I'm one of those oddball women who hates to be out with her kids sans proof of marriage. I know, it's silly but it is what it is.

The funny thing is I found my ring right where it was supposed to be all along, in my kitchen jewelry box inside a Target bag that was packed hastily. Crazy. I don't have a ton of carats, my band wasn't expensive but what my engagement ring and wedding band represent is, as they say...priceless.