The Ring

I cannot tell the story of the getting my first home without telling the story of the pregnancy, the marriage and the ring. Yes, the pregnancy came before the marriage, but a wise man once said the apple does not fall far from the tree. It was May of 2013 and I had just returned from my deployment to South America, as amazing as the experience was, it was nice to be home. Unfortunately I came home to a my still insane landlords that figured the law had no bearing on them and would ignore it even if it quoted word for word. With that said, renewing my lease at the house in Hollywood was not an option and my beautiful soon to be fiancé was a real estates agent. I had missed Aimara the entire deployment, and had decided that is was time to take the next step, although she did not know this yet.

 There was one requirement on the ring that Aimara dreamed of, it had to be tanzanite. My mistake, let me explain. We had gone on a family cruise to Atlantis the previous fall and found our way into an overpriced jewelry store. Aimara had been telling that she liked sapphire gems. I had told her about my mothers ring that had been stolen, how much I had liked the tanzanite. I asked the representative if she had any tanzanite, she showed us a few stones and Aimara was hooked. Like a fair weather Dolphins fan, the sapphire could not compare. I accept responsibility, but the stage was set and it had to be tanzanite.

I had been shopping online and looking in several jewelry stores to find a ring that that was not only tanzanite, but as beautiful and unique as Aimara. All the rings seemed to be “run of the mill”, nothing stood out as her. They were to dainty, or to gaudy, the edges were sharp or they lacked definition. Call me critical, but I knew I would find the perfect ring for her. One that would have that “wow” factor; yet practical at the same time. I wondered into a store near the house, when I noticed a large selection of settings. I took my time to look through and finally found one that had spiraling diamonds with room for a gem to rest in the center. A ring that was simple, elegant and stunning. I tested the setting with a few stones and hoped that It would be there when I could purchase it.

One day it happened that Aimara and I had to the Verizon store, which happened to be next to the jewelry store. I brought Aimara in there just to take a look. She took a look at the stones, and at the pre-made rings. I gave her a leisurely time to take it all in. I discreetly showed her the settings like it was the first time I had seen them. She looks for a short while when I pretended to notice the one I had already picked and asked to see it. Her eyes lit up and a broad smile spread across her face. Her hand went out and she nearly jumped in place just seeing it. They placed it on her hand and she walked around the store admiring the setting while I asked her about what she would prefer in a stone. When we finally got the setting off her finger, I put down the deposit while she had to take a call outside. It was a while before I could pay the balance down, but I had found the perfect ring for Aimara.