So I am still in June mode, still thinking about silly traditions while I do things other than write new creative blogs. Other things like gardening. These latest musings come from my unpublished memoir, Cramps and other Rants from a Crazy Angry Bitch, which is a bucket load of stories and rants that I am mining hoping to find some entertaining content to share. This one is about a ring… or the lack of one.
The wedding date was set, the location selected, the dress was started (actually almost finished) and I was taking care of details because that is what I do while laying in bed at night.
“We need a fridge,” I said to The Doc. He was half asleep; and I, as usual, was starting a new conversation. The Doc is a man who falls asleep easy and anywhere.
“Huh?”
“I don’t need a diamond ring. I’ve never needed a diamond ring. We need a fridge.”
“Ok. Are you sure?”
“I’m sure.”
Then The Doc rolled over and went to sleep. No other questions required. No mention of whether he even considered purchasing a ring, but he was, and still, is a quiet man so I don’t always know what’s on his mind. Not that it mattered at that moment. I had made my point.
Off we went on a shopping trip the following weekend looking for an engagement fridge to replace our circa 1950’s refrigerator with a cotton-candy pink interior and the smallest little freezer compartment imaginable. This particular refrigerator was also having some difficulty keeping things cold and causing me a lot of worry and stress. The engagement fridge we found was on sale and almond colored. You remember almond appliances–lots of us had them and loved them. We were more than happy with our choice. How could we not be, it was new, it was working and it had a nice size freezer. I was absolutely ecstatic. Buying a new refrigerator was the right decision.
You would, or at least I would, think that this would have been the end of any diamond ring discussions. How wrong I was. Just about every female I knew wanted to see the ring. Eyes would drop down to my finger and hands would literally grab mine just to have a look; only to see a short, very empty finger with no notable attributes but a wrinkly knuckle to show for its existence. They were not interested in the practicalities of needing a refrigerator no matter how charming the story. They were only interested in the ring, more specifically they were actually interested in the size of the diamond in my nonexistent ring. I had a shiny new fridge sitting in my kitchen that was larger than any diamond they had ever seen and probably not as expensive, but all that did was confirm my oddness.
The level of importance placed on the ring was then, and still is now something that I just can’t comprehend. These days it has become extreme. There are promise diamond rings, engagement diamond rings, anniversary diamond rings and probably others that I don’t know about because I rarely go into jewelry stores. I recently saw a women wearing a promise diamond that seemed very large, actually huge in my opinion. Not as big as my fridge but hell, it was just a promise. Why does this seem odd to me while I, apparently, seem to be odd to all of them?
Thanks you for reading. And thanks Margie for sharing with me your ring story that inspired me to share my ring story.
Photo: Unsplash
Recent Posts:
Still Bitchy After 60 Blog 
You know I am so with you on this ring thing! I love your engagement fridge though. Everyone should have an engagement fridge 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks. I love it that we think so much alike. If not a fridge then a washer would also work.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Definitely!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m with you on all this excess; it’s out of control…
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yes it is!
LikeLiked by 1 person
👍
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have my own weird story about “the ring” and my aversion to it, or diamonds on rings and all the hoopla it implies! So glad to know I’m not the only chick with(out) a ring! Except, I have a ring …
It’s complicated. 😀
I also have numerous fridge stories on this blog, none of which are good but hey, you started it by mentioning rings and fridges together… 😂
Loved your story. 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks. It is nice to know that there are other women who don’t believe in diamond rings. Ring stories can be complicated. I have a complicated relationship with wedding rings. There have been 3 although I have been only married once. Most of the time I don’t bother wearing it. It being the current one.
LikeLike
OMG…I thought I was the only one without a ring! No engagement ring. No wedding ring either. Sadly, I missed out on the fridge too!
LikeLiked by 1 person
The fridge was well worth it. I’ve had a couple of fridges since, but you never forget your first new fridge.
LikeLike
I like this story because it is a commentary on people’s misplaced priorities. What if you got a fancy ring from some guy who turned out to be a creep? Would the expensive ring somehow make that all right? It’s crazy how people can focus so much attention on an inanimate object as if this somehow determines the quality of the person one is marrying.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes misplaced priorities is a perfect description. Yet so many people seem to have them.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve never understood the point of a long engagement or an expensive wedding. We got married in a hotel owned by friends who fitted us un at what they called “short notice” I called it six months, which was quite long enough. Forty guests, which I still think was 20 too many, and I wore the suit I wore at my grandmother’s funeral because I’d worn it less than a day so it was near enough new. (Theer was a certain amount of discussion about that, but I held firm). We shared the cost of the ring. The dress was nice but it was a summer dress which was (a) inexpensive and (b) reusable. The photographer was a friend of my sister, who normally took pictures of burns, rashes and scabs as a photographer for the health service. We went halves on the ring and I already had a decent fridge. Thirty two years later it seems to have worked. I may not be romantic, but I do have a good selection of white goods. What more could a woman want? Your fridge seems to have worked for you too. Great story.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yes the fridge was perfect. I am a very practical person. You wedding sounds like it would be right up my alley.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I often think that the more you spend, the less chance of survival the marriage has, Or maybe that was my excuse…
LikeLiked by 2 people
Now this makes me 😃smile. An Engagement Fridge..
LikeLiked by 2 people