Wedding Journal: Ring-a-Ding-Ding

Well, after a series of phone calls to the jewelry store, and their promise that the rings would be in sometime after 4 pm today, we realized that Shrike would have to leave for work around 3 pm, so we wouldn't be able to pick them up until tomorrow.

However, I decided to surprise her by going to get them this evening. Of course, the very nice guy that we ordered them from wasn't working, so I had to ask the little old lady behind the counter for them.

I was a bit worried that since they were ordered in Shrike's name, I might have some trouble, but little did I know that was the least of my problems.

Of course, I was a bit worried about them fitting, so I decided I should check them first. I'm wearing a ring of Shrike's until the actual engagement rings come in (Shrike's wearing my college ring!) and, as luck would have it, Shrike had been wearing that ring on her "wedding finger," so I figured I could try Shrike's rings on my pinky (the only finger any of Shrike's rings fit on on me!) where I'm wearing the other one and if it fits there, it should fit Shrike. Right?

Sooooo.... LittleOldLady hands me two teeny-tiny ziplocks, each containing an engagment ring and a commitment band. I open one, look at the rings, and decide that since they're tiny, they must be Shrike's. I slips them on my pinky and they fit.

"Perfect! Now to check mine," I think.

I open the other bag, pull out those rings and they are -- ALSO TINY!

LittleOldLady checks and tells me that one set is a size 6 and the other a 6 1/2. Now, one of those (which?) is probably the size Shrike ordered but I ordered a 9 1/2!

Since there doesn't seem to be a record anywhere in the store of the original order, with the sizes listed, and I don't know which of the rings would fit Shrike, I give up on the surprise and call her at work to tell her the problem. Shrike says she thinks that she'd ordered the 6 1/2, but she isn't sure.

Meanwhile, LittleOldLady is re-checking the sizes and reports that they are *both* 6 1/4! So, the cat is out of the bag for nothing!

Thankful that it's my rings that are screwed up, not Shrike's (since Shrike will be leaving for BlueState on Sunday) I arrange to have one of them sent back to the jeweler to be enlarged - three sizes!

LittleOldLady swears that enlarging it that much won't make the band (which is already thin) noticably thinner. I will believe that when I see the finished ring next to Shrike's.

I'm supposed to "check back on Wednesday" to see if my rings are ready. I'll believe that when I see it, too.

Then LittleOldLady asks, "Are you going to pay that off today?"

Now, originally we were told that we had to put 20% down and we'd have a year to pay, and he told us how much it would be per month and no interest for 90 days, and so on and so on.

We ended up putting twice that amount down and I had set back some money to give them that much more in May, hoping to get it all paid off before the interest kicked in.

So, I tells LittleOldLady, "No, I'm just going to make a payment."

"Oh," says LOL, "then I can't let you have these," and takes back Shrike's rings!

Well, after all the trouble I'd been through with it so far - and considering that LittleOldLady, although she's being totally nonchalant about it all, is probably freaking out that these two women have ordered engagement rings and wedding bands - and because I'm just too embarrassed to argue with her, because what if we had misunderstood the whole arrangement in the first place? - I just said "Oh, okay!" and paid them off.

Not what I had planned to do with that money - I was thinking more along the lines of paying the phone and electric bills! But, it should work out okay, since by the time those are due, Shrike should have some money from her new job to send to me, but still!

But wait! It gets better!

After giving up on my trip to Wal-mart and on buying the $30 toasting glasses, thanks to the extra money that I just gave to LittleOldLady, I go to my car to leave.

Once in the car, I can't resist, I just have to have another look at Shrike's rings. I open the lid and Shrike's commitment band leaps out of the box and into the console between the seats.

Breathing a sigh of relief that it is safe, I reach to pick it up and it (showing amazing agility for a piece of gold) slides off the console and under the passenger's seat!

After trying to reach it from driver's seat (and almost getting trapped between the console and seat and scraping the hell out of my arm trying to extricate myself) I crawl into the back seat, practically stand on my head and looks under the seat.

There, looking as innocent as you please, is the ring, right under the middle of the seat. Finally, I manage to retrieve it and return it to the box.

Eventually, both the rings and I made it home safely and at the moment are waiting for Shrike to get in from work.

I will be mighty glad to get that ring on Shrike's finger and the commitment band into Shrike's jewelry box so they can be *her* responsibility to keep up with!

More news as it happens. . . .