Buying the Ring

In the weeks and months leading up to Ali”s birthday hints were being dropped that all Ali wanted was an engagement ring.

The wheels in my head started turning. I did my research. I checked out all the major stores web sites. I had the color and clarity charts memorized. I had no clue what I was doing.

My parents knew I was ring shopping, but I didn”t want to tell anyone else. Ali has a way of figuring things out, she really missed her calling because she could have been one hell of a detective.

My mom told me what to look for, what questions to ask so when the time came when I finally went to look at rings, and buy one I knew what I was doing.

Early one Saturday morning I got up, showered, dressed and headed out. I usually go on photowalks on the weekend, so I had a good alibi if Ali woke up and started to wonder where I was. But before I left, I tried on one of her rings, to figure out how far it fit on my finger so I could guess about what size the ring needed to be (I nailed it, by the way).

I got to the mall before all the stores opened. I sat in the middle of the mall watching all the old folks doing their power walking  laps as I waited to do the rounds of all the jewelry stores. Zales, Helzberg, all the big ones. As I walked from one store to the next I realized more and more that I had no clue what I was doing.

I left the mall totally overwhelmed. One place had a great price, but you could see giant inclusions with your eye. Another place had an okay diamond at a decent price, but it wasn”t certified. Yet another place had a nice ring, but it was three times my budget.

The last place I had to go to on my list, I almost blew off because I was so dejected.  But I made myself go because they weren”t opened on Sundays and because my boss highly recommended them to me. He had just bought his and his fiancé”s wedding bands there and said he wish he knew about this place when he bought his fiancé”s  engagement ring.

I walked in to this family owned shop that has been in Houston for almost a 100 years and told the owner exactly what I was looking for. He took me over and pulled out a box of loose diamonds and I was freaking out on the inside. I saw what loose diamonds cost at the mall, and now this guy is going to try and sell me one. I kept my mouth shut and let him tell me about the diamond.

It was gorgeous. With only my eyes I couldn”t see anything that I saw in the crap diamonds at the mall. It was the high end of the non-color scale and on the low end of the inclusion scale.

I thought, “Great. This guy is going to try and sell me a $5,000 dollar diamond.”

Then I looked at it under the loop and magnifying glass. It was beyond gorgeous.

I thought, “Great. This guy is going to try and sell me a $9,000 dollar diamond.”

I asked him the price. He asked how I was paying. I said I had cash, and was ready to buy today if the price was right.

He did some math, crossed it out, started over, and did it all again. He gave me the price that was just above my entry point. I couldn”t believe it. I pulled out the cash and bought it right then.

I waited one whole week for the ring to be to set in the band and picked it up on my lunch break the Friday after I bought it. The ring was beyond beautiful.

The Sunday after I picked up the ring I asked her father for his blessing and from there everything was in place…