The Ring

I gave Kathy her ring this morning while we sat at the kitchen table opening anniversary cards.

Not the most romantic setting, but it’s more emblematic of our lives than some fancy restaurant. We had been putting off the anniversary celebration, and had never even opened cards from each other or from her sisters, so we decided to do that today. I ran upstairs and took the little wrapped box from its secret hiding place and tucked it into the back pocket of my jeans. I have this favorite Christmas wrapping paper that I hoard for special occasions like this. It has the famous cherubs on it from that one detail of a Michelangelo painting. I wrapped it so that one of the little faces was right on top. Since we’ve met, Kathy has always been my angel, and I look for certain style angels as presents for her.

After we opened the cards I pulled out the box and set it in front of her. Sorry Stacey, but I.was.so.excited. She had no idea. Her eyes popped when she opened the little hinged jewelers box and saw the three diamonds glinting at her. In her own words, she was “speechless”, “breathless” and “blown away.” She cried for half an hour. So did I.

She told me that when she first saw the box, she thought there might be earrings in there. She never expected anything like that ring. She never even put two and two together when we got those dunning phone calls from the jewelry company some months ago. (They thought I was late paying and so left messages on our home answering machine. I thought surely my cover was blown.)

After we settled down, Kathy went off to the grocery store and showed off her present to one of our favorite cashiers. Tonight we are going over to her sister’s house to watch the Kentucky Derby, and Kathy is looking forward to waving her hand around to see if anyone notices the new addition.

So, thanks to all of you who have been following this story. I’ve enjoyed sharing it with you.