Rings

Rich and rare were the gems she wore,
And a bright gold ring on her hand she bore.
-Thomas Moore

The girls at our house both got special gifts this week. LadyBug is turning 8 in just a few weeks. And 8 is a pretty special birthday. There's a little custom that girls get pretty white dresses when they turn 8 to wear after they are baptized. But LadyBug just isn't a frilly dress kinda girl. While we were discussing her baptism dress, I stopped to ask her if she would actually wear a fluffy white dress more than just on her baptism day and the following Sunday. She said she wouldn't no matter what we did -- bought a new dress, made a dress, or if she wore the dress I wore when I was I eight. My mom made it for me and I was actually baptized in this dress. I remember it floated up on the water when I walked into the font. That's probably why girls wear jumpsuits now. I explained to LadyBug that it was a lot of money to buy a dress to wear it twice and if she wanted to wear my dress I would take her shopping for a birthstone ring. I think that made everyone happy -- LadyBug only has to wear a frilly white dress twice, I get that neat feeling of having her wear the same dress I wore, and she gets a ring that will last a bit longer than a dress.

Shopping for jewelry was a fun sort of mother-daughter thing to do. We started at a little shop here in town that was having a half-off sale for one day only. Their selection was pretty small. They didn't have any children's rings at all and only a few birthstone rings. We stopped at home for a little bit and then headed out to the mall, a short trip across town. In the first shop there we found a lovely set that included a ring and matching necklace. We put a bookmark in that and headed across the way to a second shop. They had a few cute children's rings, but nothing that was spectacular. The third shop was a bust, so we went back to the first shop and bought the little set, which was on sale (I LOVE that). The ring and the necklace together were less than other individual rings we'd looked at. We had to have the ring sized and we just picked it up tonight.

I pause here to say that I have a 'thing' for LadyBug's hands. When she was a baby I marveled over how small they were. I loved to hold her little hands. I still love to hold her little hands. They are always very warm and mine are always very cold, so they feel good to me. And they still seem very small to me, but looking at her hand in the picture, I can't believe how big she has gotten. Eight already!

And now for a bit about my special gift. I got a ring as well. While LadyBug and I were home between jewelry shopping trips, Mr. Bug hesitantly asked me how he might go about getting me a ring for Valentine's Day. I say he asked hesitantly because he didn't want to spoil the surprise but he knew that I'd probably be the happiest getting to choose something new. He knew that for the last few years I'd been wanting some sort of re-styling of my wedding ring, which was one yellow gold band with three small diamonds on each side and a marquise cut diamond in the center. When he asked about getting me something new I was absolutely giddy at the thought that he would want to do something so completely romantic for me. And so we went shopping together and picked out a new setting for my old diamond. I went with a solitaire setting this time in white gold. I have pavé bands picked out in yellow gold (I love the two metals mixed together) to go on either side of the solitaire and that is something we will do in the future. We're doing the make-over in steps. I'm going to have the small diamonds pulled out of the old setting and put into the new bands. That way, the old will be mixed in with the new.

When the sales woman brought my diamond set in a new ring to me, it absolutely took my breath away. I breathed out a "wow" and I can't stop looking at it. Mr. Bug and I both agree that it is absolutely beautiful.

The girls at our house are definitely two of the most loved and spoiled girls on earth.