This is my wedding ring.

No, it has not been run over by a car. Yes, it is suppose to be in the shape of a circle, not a hexagon. We were young, cheap, inexperienced jewelery purchasers when we bought this hunk of metal.

When we decided to get married, we went to the outlet mall in Leesburg, VA and stopped at a jewelery store there. I really could have had any pick of ring but I was looking for something unique. I was also afraid to buy a large, tall ring because I wasn’t too fancy of a person and thought it might catch on stuff.

So when I saw this dainty, previously owned ring, I thought it was quite the deal and just right for me. It had such a tiny diamond in it that the jeweler convinced us that we should buy an ugly solitaire with a larger diamond and swapped the stones. The total cost of both rings were sooo under our budget that we were quite proud of ourselves.

It didn’t take me long to realize that we had bought a lemon. I began to realize how small it actually was and felt some regret, but when the band started to become misshapen, I felt terrible. It was me that had picked it out and I’m sure Jer would have bought me something much nicer.

We took it to get reshaped a number of times and jewelers were stumped why the supposed white gold was so soft. Someone even said that maybe it was platinum. It was some mysterious cheap kind of something. That I knew. Either way it shouldn’t have bent so easily with every day wear.

At some point in our marriage I started to complain about it, especially when the prongs started breaking and the diamond became loose. I became naggy and would ask for a new ring for every birthday or anniversary. I wasn’t feeling too sentimental towards the beat up ring.

A little after our 4 year anniversary, I got a new ring. This time Jer picked it out and surprised me with it. It was gorgeous, sturdy and to this day is still shaped in a circle. Love it.

But that is not the point of my story.

Tomorrow is our 7 year anniversary and last night we planned a date to celebrate. The date was nothing fancy but perfect for us. We went rock climbing and grabbed a bite to eat. Jer told me he had bought me a little something and to look in the glove box. I pulled out this…

The picture doesn’t do it justice. It is the diamond from my first ring! I love it! I love it sooooo much. I can barely stand it. It’s such a beautiful, delicate little thing and I love it because Jer thought of it and did it for me. I never thought I would love something so much from him. It reminds me of the first years together… trying to be thrifty, learning how to love, not knowing much about anything. Not knowing how to communicate or make decisions. We’ve grown so much… together. It’s been great and I wouldn’t change it for anything.

Sometimes it feels like it’s been forever since I’ve become a Mrs. but other days it seems like it was yesterday that I was driving off to the east coast in a itty bitty Ford Festiva packed to the brim with our belongings. But here we are and I’m not quite sure how it all happened but it has happened… and it’s been lovely.

Thanks for the journey. Love you, hunny.