A Second Proposal

You know the story: Daddy asked Mommy to marry him on August 29, 2009 on a hot air balloon over Lake Lanier.

What you probably don't know is the story behind the ring.

My mom, your Mimi, had this earring. It was a rather large, round-cut aquamarine draped in platinum in a drop earring. Or at least, that's what we thought it was. This earring came from my great-grandmother, and we had no idea what happened to the other one. From the time I knew aquamarine was my birthstone, I had my eye on this piece of jewelry. As a little girl, I used to hold it up to my ring finger and imagine how beautiful this stone would look as an engagement ring, rather than a lone earring without a match. When the time came for Daddy to propose, he got the earring from Mimi and had it placed in a white gold setting that he designed.

After the initial excitement surrounding our engagement had calmed down, we took it to a jeweler to have it appraised. When the jeweler took a look at it, he told us the stone was synthetic. Daddy's heart sank, but I didn't really care. It was beautiful, and that was enough. It didn't matter whether it was priceless or worthless, it was what Daddy had asked me to marry him with.

I was always extra careful with it, though. Even if it hadn't been a real gemstone, it wasn't a diamond and that meant it wasn't as hard. But on top of that, it wasn't even real, which meant it could easily be chipped or scratched. I'd had this thing for nearly six years when one day I dropped it on the bathroom floor. It literally shattered and aquamarine-colored glass flew everywhere. I was crushed, and called Daddy crying.

To him, the setting was the only meaningful part of this ring. He had designed it to fit the stone, but the stone never mattered to him. "Besides," he told me. "We can afford an upgrade now, and when I proposed, we couldn't." He took the ring to the jeweler and had them look out for the perfect aquamarine to fit this setting.

When he finally found it, he wanted to do something sweet and propose to me all over again. He came home one day, and handed it to you. "Go give this to Mommy," he said.

You opened the box and were SO EXCITED to find something shiny, that OF COURSE you didn't want to share it! I got it from you eventually, but your curiosity and interest made our second "proposal" so much better!