The Ring

In the early 1900's, my great great grandmother Annie Poulton had a pair of diamond earrings. She wore them often enough that they became a bit of a legend. When she passed, each earring was passed down to one of her children. In the mid 1930's, my great grandfather Melvin had the diamond set in a beautiful square ring for my great grandmother Agnes, Annie's daughter. The work was done by Al Warren, a long-time neighbor and friend of the family. Grandma Agnes loved that ring, and wore it all the time. When Agnes passed, it was inherited by my grandma Joan, who then left it to my mother, Susan.

Soon after Emily and I met and started dating, I knew I wanted to marry her. Emily has an affinity for vintage and heirloom items, and also a distaste for overly expensive gifts, such as you'd expect from a standard engagement ring. As I started thinking about rings for her, the old square ring kept standing out. I hadn't seen it for years since Grandma Joan used to wear it, but it seemed like it could be the one. I inquired around to see where the ring ended up. I didn't realize my mom had it and that it was quite cherished by her. I asked her about it, and the possibility of me using it as an engagement ring. I think my mom was a bit surprised, as she seemed to have not considered the idea of gifting the ring for this sort of purpose. I told her she could take as much time as she needed to think about it, and that it wouldn't hurt my feelings at all if she decided to keep it, since it was in fact her ring to do with as she wanted.

About a week later, I texted my father to ask if I could stop by and take a look at the ring, just to remind myself what it looked like, and make sure it would be fitting for the love of my life. The response was something along the lines of "Yes!!! Come now." I hurried down to their house, and to my surprise, the ring was waiting for me in the new ring box from the appraisal my parents had done, ready to be mine. Apparently both my parents had felt quite the confirmation that the ring needed to be passed on. Their obvious love for Emily was also partly to thank, I assume.

I had planned on taking a look at the ring myself, as well as snapping a picture for Emily, just to make sure it was something she'd like. If I was going to take this ring from my mother, I had to be sure Emily would absolutely love it. As soon as I opened the box, I knew. It was perfect. Classic, beautiful, and timeless, just like Emily. I immediately started to tear up. I just knew it was the one for her, just like she was the one for me.

Since Emily knew the ring was coming, she wanted what it looked like to be the surprise. I kept it safe in a drawer until it went out for resizing and she never saw it. She also didn't expect to be seeing it for many more days when I surprised her with it that Sunday morning. She loved it just like I knew she would, and important above all, she said yes!