Our Happy Ending

This weekend John and I picked up our wedding rings at a local jeweler, Reiner's (kindly referred by Rich and Kristi). We opted for simple white gold bands, since John is brand new to the whole man-jewelry thing. Inside, we had the option of engraving the rings. I agonized over this for awhile, wanting something original and also something with meaning. I was so happy when I came up with the phrase "Our Happy Ending". This phrase is borrowed and modified from one of my favorite Avril Lavigne songs "My Happy Ending" where she is not as lucky to find hers. Unfortunately, since my ring size is so small (3.5!) they weren't able to fit that phrase and our wedding date. So, being the acronym-loving geologists that we are, our wedding rings are inscribed:

OHE 09/23/07

The Ring

My engagement ring has a story, I love that! It started back in December when John and I went up to Banff and Lake Louise for a few days of skiing, snowshoeing, and relaxation. After skiing both Sunshine Village and Lake Louise, we took a break from the slopes and rented snowshoes to hike to a point overlooking Lake Louise. It was a beautiful day, but very cold. After our hike we went into the Fairmont Chateau to try and warm up and eat some lunch.

As we wandered around the hotel, we decided to browse their jewelry store. Right away I was drawn to the section of sapphires (my birthstone). John urged me to try on a few that I liked. The one that stood out to me was a beautiful oval-shaped sapphire flanked by two heart-shaped diamonds with a modern white gold band. John could see that I loved it, and being the giving man that he is, offered to buy it for me on the spot. My first response was no way, that I didn't need something so extravagant. He kept trying. So I told him that it seemed silly to buy such a sparkly ring, since if we ever did get engaged, I wouldn't want to wear both of them. I ended up having to half drag him out of the store. On our way out, he had me wait while he went to the bathroom. I noted the time on my watch carefully to make sure he wasn't going back to buy it. He was back quickly, so I relaxed. Little did I know that the story of my engagement ring began there...

John has since told me that he spent the next few months trying to get a hold of that ring. First there was the sizing. John secretly stole the rings I normally wear and traced them several times on a sheet of paper, measured them, and even uploaded the image and registered them in ArcGIS.

Then there was actually getting the ring across the Canadian border. And the hold up with the credit card authorization. John said he had wanted to propose while we were on vacation skiing in Colorado, but no ring. Same story when we went to Portland for his birthday. When he finally got the ring he didn't want to wait until our next vacation rolled around.

So that's the story of my engagement ring....