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Monday, March 9, 2020

WE'RE ENGAGED AND MORE

          Yesterday, I went back through my blog posts and decided I’d spend some time writing about happy stuff with John. It seems I left off after he’d asked me to marry him, i.e., he was saving pennies for rings.

          It was September 1966 when he wanted to know what I planned to do on Saturday. Well, my family was moving and I had to find a place to live. He wondered if it would take me all day; and when I asked why, he responded that he thought we’d go look at rings.

          His mother had always told him that when he found THE girl, she’d give him her diamond solitaire engagement ring. We were at his house that Friday night and his mother took her ring off and tossed it across the room to him. To this day I know she wasn’t happy about that because when he’d told her a month or so before that we were getting married, she laughed and laughed until she realized he was serious. She never liked me, nor would she have liked any woman John married, but that’s another story.


          So, Saturday morning John took me downtown to Rivkin’s Jewelers. He wanted a wedding set that would hold two matching stones, the one from his mom and one from him. The jeweler didn’t have anything like that but showed us a ring in the shape of an
orchid. The larger part of the orchid could hold his mother’s diamond with a smaller one in the other part of the orchid or vice versa. It was an antique gold setting and I LOVED it!!! We also picked out a wedding band for John for which I paid.

          The rings were ordered, and I could hardly wait until my birthday in November which is when John said he would give it to me. I’ve said previously he was a romantic and once he had the ring, he couldn’t wait. My habit was to get ready for bed before he made his nightly call after he got off work. Then, I could go to bed and go to sleep to dream of him.

          There I was in my pjs and a robe, no make-up, my hair all done up in huge rollers when he knocked on the door instead of calling. He wanted me to come out to his car for just a minute. I went, wondering what the heck was going on. In the car, he pulled the ring box out of his pocket and placed the engagement ring on my finger. I was beyond thrilled. A few kisses and I went inside to bed after showing my family my ring, and John went home.

          Now, I thought once I had my engagement ring, I’d be flashing my left hand around, pushing it into everyone’s faces. But suddenly I was shy. I couldn’t really bring myself to shout out, “Hey, look what I’ve got.” Instead, I became very left-handed and absolutely loved, loved, loved showing that gorgeous ring to everyone. 

          Now, I wasn’t supposed to get anything for Christmas that year that cost more than $1.00, including tax. The wedding set had taken all John’s money, so he was broke. That was perfectly fine with me. He could give me penny candy for all I cared. I had his ring, I had him, we were going to be married the following August, so what did I care about an inexpensive Christmas gift. Well, on Christmas morning, he gave me a long slender box, wrapped in shiny green paper. I opened it to find a box from Rivkin’s Jewelers and inside a watch. The band was made of individually crafted roses in antique gold. I looked at that lovely piece of jewelry and said, the first thing that popped into my head, i.e., “This only cost $1.00, including tax?”

          The band was too large for my small wrist, so John had one of the roses removed and a safety chain attached. He also told me he wanted to put a diamond in the center of each rose on every wedding anniversary. I was so touched, but told him I wanted to wear the watch, not have to leave it in a safe. The watch came back and I wore it proudly for decades. I took the rose they’d removed and had a tie tac and cufflinks made in antique gold to match. They were John’s wedding gift from me.

          I never grew tired of my wedding set. I still love it as much today, maybe even more, than when I first received it that October evening. I don’t wear it as much as I used to because I’m older now and my knuckles swell. It started out as a 4.75 size, and I know we had it made larger when the anniversary band was added (another post). If I’m going to keep wearing it, it could probably stand to be enlarged again.

          I never grew tired of my watch either. I wore it on a daily basis until the year 2000. That’s the year I was treated for breast cancer. I gained 20 pounds, and apparently some of that weight went to my wrists because eventually, I could barely close the latch and it was so tight it hurt. Now, I wear a Fitbit and it tells me the time when I need to know.

          John was very generous and giving. I hope he knew and realized how much I loved and appreciated those two gifts, not only in 1966 when received, but for all the years that followed. I do so wish I could tell him so today.

          Finally, may I suggest to anyone out there who still has his/her spouse that you take the time to reflect on what s/he has given/provided and tell them how much you love the gift, the time, or whatever you really appreciate about him or her…don’t do as I did and wait until it’s too late. I hate feeling sorry.
8/13/1966

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