Mom’s Rings

Three years ago, I wrote about my engagement with Emily that did not end well (Too Late For Sorry). My main purpose for writing about it was to share thoughts primarily with my granddaughters. First, I have made mistakes in my life, especially in my youth. You try to fix as many as you can. The sun will come up tomorrow. God had something different planned for my life.

Today, I am writing about the rest of that story. Like I said before, I had dated someone else while Emily was living in California, and we were engaged. The plan was for me to move there, go to college, work, and get married. After my car broke down and my move was postponed, Emily went back to Houston without letting me know until after she had already returned.

My plan was to tell her when I got to California; however, I cannot say for sure that it would have happened. I knew that with her back in school here, she would have found out if I had not told her first. When I met with her, I told her that I had dated someone, and then I made it even worse by suggesting that she should date someone else for a while, and then we would get married after she graduated. That made more sense when I was dreaming it up. Like I said before, I did not handle that well.

I did try to fix our relationship with several phone calls and went to where she was working after school. I learned that you cannot travel on a bridge you burned down.

There I was with the wedding rings, with no interest in entering into another committed relationship anytime soon. I also knew that, even if I did, I should not give those rings to another girl that I wanted to marry. I thought about selling them to get money back, then I thought about Mom. She had always had that gold band ring, and I wondered if she would want it. I had borrowed $250 from Dad for tuition fees that I had not bothered to pay back. The rings were more expensive, but the more I thought about it, I wanted her to have them. When I asked Mom if she would like to have them in exchange for what I owed Dad, she was happy. Dad had put that gold band on Mom’s finger not long after she had turned 17 when they were married, and she had worn it since.

At that point, I had not discussed that transaction with Dad, and I knew she would tell him. I was surprised at how he responded because he was not nearly as happy as Mom. He told me in a loud voice that if she wanted new wedding rings, he could buy them for her. I then offered the $250 that I had owed him and that I would do something else with the rings. He then just smiled and said, “It is too late for that!” He told me that for so many years,  there were more important needs for the family than rings. He had never considered that she wanted something different. When Mom got the rings enlarged to fit her finger, she bought Dad his first wedding band.

After Dad’s passing, Mom would buy other rings and nice jewelry, but that was her first bling on her hand to show off. Now you know the rest of the story.