Emerald and Diamonds

For something so small as this, it was greatly missed. I say 'was' because I merely gave it to a jeweler down in The Village to have it resized. Happily, it is back on my ring finger where it belongs. When purchased from the website that sported this image, the size five and a half was unavailable so we bought a size six instead. Sure, we could have waited to see if a size five and a half would turn up but we were both a bit giddy when we purchased it.

Before my parents dropped me off at college last year, we stopped in at Gatlinburg for a night since the hotels surrounding Johnson City were booked for the Nascar race that was happening at Bristol that same weekend. Since we were short on time and had spent many a year up Gatlinburg during various seasons, we made our way easily to The Village there which is by far our favorite place to go. Not only is it beside the most wonderous breakfast nook ever - which I am happy to say we have it's sibling here at Hillsboro Village in Nashville - the Pancake Pantry, but it also houses the Ole Smokey Candy Kitchen as well as my favorite store, the Celtic Heritage. Over the years, the fare has been rather consistent at all places, in terms of what is sold and what isn't but upon this occasion I had decided that I would like a ring. The ring, I decided, would be symbolic of my commitment to Jerry and my love for him, to be worn at all times, no matter how much it might irritate me. Naturally, then, I chose a silver Claddagh.

The Claddagh, as pictured above, is traditionally depicted as two hands clasping a heart and upon the heart there is a crown. The three elements correspond accordingly - the two hands represent friendship, the heart represents love, and the crown represents loyalty. According to Wikipedia, when the ring is given there is an expression that is said: "With my two hands I give you my heart and crown it with my loyalty." I'm more familiar with the other phrase associated with it: "Let love and friendship reign forever."

Not only is the ring symbolic but also the way one wears the ring. When worn upon the right hand with the crown facing toward the body, then the wearer is not seeing anyone but is looking for love. When worn with the crown facing away from the body, then the wearer's heart has been captured by someone. When worn upon the left hand with the crown facing inward, the wearer is engaged. When worn with the crown facing away from the body, then the wearer is married. Since I was unlikely to encounter anyone who remembered with such accuracy what the ring meant when worn a certain way, I decided to wear it on my left hand, with the crown facing away from me. That is the way that I wear it even now, but not for the same reason as I did then.

When I started wearing it that way then, it was meant to merely put off those who would otherwise try to engage me in an romantic involvement. People tend to notice when one wears one ring over and over and over again on the same ring. The problem I found was that no matter that I wore it day in and day out, in the shower even at times so as not to misplace it, people still failed to take ring very seriously. Agreed, the band was plain and not studded with any type of jewel, but at the time I liked it that way. When things began to become more serious between Jerry and I, we began to search for a more 'convincing' ring to take it's place and later to become my engagement ring.

When Jerry surprised me for Valentine's day last year, we finally stumbled across a ring that gave us an idea of what we were looking for. Before I had been too specific, unsure of what I really sought because I had no notion of what kind of ring I wanted! No, I didn't want gold, no I wasn't a big fan of diamonds even though it was my birth stone, I thought them too over used. No, I didn't want anything modern and I didn't want anything plain but I didn't want something dripping with gems either. And so we searched until nestled in a ring box, in a case, in a little Irish shop that is sadly now closed, there it was - the perfect ring. A part of me will always want the ring although I am very much aware of its ridiculous price. I am also very much aware that if I were to actually have it I would be frightened to wear it for fear that something may happen to it - and that's not the kind of ring to have. It was simple, elegant, and was merely beautiful knotwork with just a handful of tiny diamonds and emeralds. The band that went with it was plain but instead of just a row of diamonds, it had emeralds and diamonds to match the other. A stunning combination that left a wanting in my heart.

After seeing it and finding out what company produced such a beauty, we began the task of finding something similar but the months stretched on and we came to a few conclusions. We knew what my perfect ring was and we knew we couldn't afford it. We knew that it would be impossible to find anything as extragavent as that beautiful set so we would, for lack of a better term, settle for something else. It was with these few hard facts that made finding the one above rather... simple. It was this past summer, believe it or not, when we decided to look a few things up on the internet while we took turn with video games. It was my turn and we had been talking about rings so it seemed logical to look for one on the site we were on, which happened to be Ebay. After a few pages of rings that bored me, I tried refining the search, which turned up more pleasant things. I narrowed it by stone, then by engagement or wedding until finally I found it. Just looking at it a part of me was a little stunned. One, because it was so cheap - believe it or not - and two, because it was just absolutely lovely. It was simple but elegant, an eye catcher without being a bank breaker and it simply pleaded with me. Which made me in turn plead with Jerry as I showed it to him. He too was struck speechless for a moment as he studied it.

We looked at the specs of it, where it came from, how it was made and it had everything - everything! - perfect. It's hallmarked, for one, handmade in Ireland, with an emerald center and eighteen tiny diamonds. There's on on the crown, three in each cuff of the hand, and eleven around the emerald itself. It's silver, not white gold, which means it will age nicely, and shipping wasn't bad either. We made the purchase right then and there and with that, a thrill went through me. We were moving forward. We were making progress.

I waited with great anticipation for the arrival of my ring. I would ask him daily as the date of the approximate arrival neared and it was with great frustration that I was made to wait. I had hoped it would arrive before the weekend, when I spent time with him but by the next weekend it was there. It was mailed in a padded envelop in a tiny bag, wrapped in more padding. When it was first taken out and shown to me, I was almost afraid to handle it. It looked more delicate than the picture had depicted it but there it was, in my warm hands, sliding across my finger with cool precision until it rested, nestled up against my knuckle. That first day and the day after, I kept taking it off to play with it, examine it, marvel at it and criticize it. But by the end of the weekend, I loved it. It took a little convincing, since I gave it back to him the first night, for me to take it home to enjoy it - it was mine after all - but since I said yes, not a day goes by where I don't look at it and love it.

Although my parents know that it's mine, it has yet to be formally given to me as my engagement ring. Nevertheless, I wear it as if it is. Some of his co-workers are already calling me his little wife, because I call him every morning, try to talk to him every lunch, and check on him when he has to stay late for work. Some are even saying that we will be married before the year is out and that there will be a baby soon to follow. Everyone seems to be expecting it, our union, and we aren't going to disappoint. Not because we feel pressured, but because we feel so moved to. What a joyous day it will be when my ring is not just my engagement ring but also my wedding ring. I look forward to that day, whenever it may be, with great anticipation.

Twitter tweet.