Back in 2003, I believe, A took the initiative to have a ring made for me. You see when D & I got married back in 1977, the church we were married in was the church I had grown up in. It was a United Pentecostal church and among the various no-no beliefs was no jewelry, including wedding bands & engagement rings. About 1980, we quit attending that church and in 1984, D bought me a simple wedding band. Over the next couple of years we went through several life events - death of an aunt from cancer, an uncle of a heart attack, I miscarried the the baby that I got pregnant with right about the same time the wedding band was bought, we started our house and then my step-dad died of a heart attack. I went into a deep depression and put on a lot of weight. So then the wedding band had basically gotten to the point where the only way to get it off was to cut it off - which I did. At that point, it reminded me more of the baby we had lost than anything since I believe I got pregnant the night the band had been bought.
Anyway, by the time I cut it off, I was working and I took $150 and bought a wedding set from Service Merchandise. Nothing fancy, just basically diamond chips. But I always kind of wanted a good wedding set. I wanted one that had the engagement ring & then a sleeve that it set into so that there was a band on each side.
So, forward to 2003 - A is engaged to J, but still owns some diamond jewelry that had been given to her by a previous boyfriend. He didn't want the pieces back and she didn't want to wear the pieces since she was with J. So she got in touch with her dad, her sister & her brother. They went together and had a ring made for me. When I got it, it was 1 larger diamond in the center (solitaire) surrounded by 2 rounds of smaller diamonds in a flower like design - 8 on each level for a total of 16 smaller diamonds. I LOVED it! But I felt that the 1 band wasn't quite what I wanted for a wedding set & I am not one to wear a lot of jewelry. Probably a left over feeling from being raised as I was. So, since I had to have them resize it anyway, I bought 2 smaller plain bands to have attached to it - 1 on each side. Now it is like I always wanted - it looks like a solitaire with a sleeve on it. I found out later that the original plan was to give me the ring for Christmas and have the bands attached for my birthday 6 months later. So I jumped the gun.
Fast forward to Fall 2009 - I noticed that I was missing 1 of the 16 smaller diamonds! So, I needed to get it fixed! There had only ever been 1 other thing I would have changed about the ring - had 1 round of blue sapphires instead of 1 of the rounds of diamonds. Blue is my favorite color and really other than earrings & not even always them, I don't wear any other jewelry. So I decided to go in to the jewelry store that had originally made the ring - at least the local store of the chain - Riddle's and ask what the cost would be to have 1 of the diamonds from the center round placed into the missing spot on the outer round, and the others replaced by blue sapphires. I also wanted the solitaire to be lowered a bit, if possible since it catches on things a lot. So after doing some figuring, I was told $380 and about 3 weeks of work. But they didn't want to take it on for at least a month since they were right at the end of the Christmas season & would have lots of resizings and such to do right after the holidays. So I waited until the end of January & then I took the plunge. Three weeks later on February 12th - just in time for Valentine's Day, I got my right back and I absolutely love it!
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