The Proposal Pt. 2 - The Ring(s)

All of this happened on a Wednesday, and I had decided that after work on Thursday I was going to head to Dallas. This gave us Wednesday evening to find a ring. Around 4 pm Dave and I met up at the apartment, and after some high-fives (and some man-hugs), we left to go ring shopping. Our first place to look for Tra's ring was at the bar. My thought process here was that the "happier" I was, the more I would be willing to spend on a ring. After much ring-searching at the bar, we reached the right level of "happiness" and decided that we should go to an establishment that actually sold rings.

About a year ago, Tra and I decided to browse around some jewelry stores. I wanted to get the feel of what kind of ring she wanted for when the day came that I actually got the nerve to propose. I found out that day that Tra is not your average girly-girl. Most girls want the biggest, shiniest, most elaborate set-stone ring that money can buy. Then, their man gets judged by what he picks out for her. Well this trip is when I found out that Tra is not a fan of big bulky rings. She's not even a fan of set-stones. She likes baguette cut diamonds and bands; tiny, petite, simple, diamond bands. It's understandable because she uses her hands a lot for work so her rings get banged around, and a bulky ring would get in her way. I'm so thankful that we took the time to do this because I actually had some sort of idea about what ring she would like.

We went to the Galleria of Houston first. This is where I had a real eye-opener on the evening (which is good because all of the "happiness" was making my eyes droop). I came to the realization that this was not going to be a simple task. We stopped at about ten different stores before we decided that the Galleria was putting a damper on our hopes of a simple ring search. The Galleria was also putting a damper on our "happiness" level, so we stopped at a Mexican restaurant in the mall to see if they kept any rings at the bottoms of their margarita glasses. They did not.

At this point, we were desperate because it was getting late. We stopped at one more store that didn't pan out to anything, and we finally just asked the guy behind the counter if there was a Jared's in Houston. Luckily, the Jared's wasn't far away, however, they closed at 10:00. It was around 9:30 at that point. After sprinting through the mall and navigating our way across town, we pulled up to Jared's with about ten minutes to spare.

With a significant level of "happiness" and adrenaline pumping, we were finally standing in front of a legitimate display case full of diamond bands that would be suffice for Tra's taste. This is where it gets interesting. Since she only likes the band style, I had decided to get her two rings; a little band and a big band. Then when we get married, I'll get her a third band that is identical to the smaller of the two; little band, big band, little band. Since bands aren't nearly as expensive as a set diamond ring, the budget that I had decided on (thanks to my "happiness") was substantially more than what the bands cost.

This is where Dave and I came up with a game we like to call "Bigger." The rules are as follows: they bring out a ring, and we scream "Bigger!" This went on until they finally informed us that we were holding the biggest band of diamonds. We took it. Then, I picked out a smaller baguette cut band, and we finally had our rings! I had to call Blake again to find out Tra's ring size because I had forgotten it. Unfortunately, she didn't know it either (no help, as usual). I thought it was a 7, and she thought it was a 6. We compromised on a 6.5 and called it good. I left the rings there to be sized and would come back after work and pick them up on my way to Dallas.

I left work before lunch on Thursday because I was accomplishing absolutely nothing; I think I was still in shock. I freaked out a bit in my bosses office about the whole situation, and he made it clear that I wasn't needed at work the rest of the week (especially in the state I was in) so I was free to leave. I went to Jared's to pick up the rings, and things got ugly. Literally.

(This part is strictly in my opinion. Tra will tell you that I am over-exaggerating) The rings did not match in the slightest. They looked funny next to each other because one was so big and the other one was small. On top of that, the cuts didn't go together at all. Unfortunately, I had to live with them. I called up Dave to ask him what we were thinking when we bought the rings, and he tried to insist that they couldn't be nearly as bad as I was making them out to be. Then, he saw them and admitted that maybe they weren't the greatest looking pair, but he knew for a fact that she would love them (he was just trying to boost my confidence going into the Dallas trip because I was freaking out again).

I really don't remember packing to leave the apartment (when the engagement was finally over that weekend, I did an inventory on my suitcase and noted that it contained about 17 pairs of underwear and 2 shirts). Anyways, Dave and I loaded up, and we were off to Dallas; or really Gunter. We had one more small errand to run before I could propose to Tara.

It was now time to break it to my mother that I was getting married and moving to Singapore.