Category Archives: the anchor

I think we would have been engaged sooner had Mike believed me the first time I said I didn’t want a traditional diamond engagement ring.  Everything about it seemed ridiculous so it was a no-brainer for me.  Although Mike agreed with all the reasons I was against a diamond, he didn’t want me to feel ripped off or resentful.

Shortly after we began talking about marriage, a patient came into our dental office with a lovely hammered silver and gold saddle ring on and I fell in love.  She explained it had the Hebrew blessings: mazel tov, love, health, and prosperity engraved into the spinner.  I knew I wanted it as an engagement ring so informed Mike that when the time came here was the ring, where to get it (I don’t think the company is still around, but Tinahdee carries similar styles) and my finger size.  Romantic, I know, but he was grateful for the information.  We’ve always been excessively practical.

It was months later when we were celebrating our 2 year dating anniversary in his hometown in Newfoundland.  He was having the ring shipped to his mom’s house, but it didn’t arrive in time.  We spent our anniversary in St. Johns and I was a little irked that he didn’t even get me a card.  He didn’t have a back up plan so I teased him relentlessly not knowing he had the best present planned.  He felt terrible, but couldn’t redeem himself until the ring arrived.  The next day he asked me to go for a walk on the wharf  after supper.  While we stood on the pier, he pulled it out of his pocket, said something sweet that I don’t really remember.  I cried and then we hugged.  He didn’t get down on one knee; I would have giggled if he did.  My mother-in-law later asked if we’d like to borrow a nicer ring until we could afford something better.  We laughed because we were getting used to people thinking we were odd.  We liked it that way.

We didn’t get married until 2 years later.  A few weeks after our engagement I began dental hygiene school and money was tight.  After I finished school we decided that we were tired of being asked when we would be married and discussing the many different ways to get hitched; we only cared about being married to each other; the rest was just details.

We set a date in June 2007; it was a Thursday.  We bought two secondhand gold bands and had them re-sized.  We had them engraved with “tsimhtsiy 2007″ or “The Spirit in Me Honours the Spirit in You”.  I still love this ring, but I can’t wear it all the time as my skin gets irritated due to its width.  It is quite bothersome when my hands swell too, which I seem to be prone to.

I wore jeans and he wore shorts.  It was under the poplars and cedars of my mom and step father’s home that we were wed by the wonderful Age Smies. who read a lovely excerpt from The Veleteen Rabbit.  We ate a simple picnic dinner of organic fare provided by my dad and stepmother and cupcakes we had made and decorated the night before.   Everyone went home with a few homemade chocolate chips cookies packaged with care. The only thing we would have changed would be to have given Mike’s mom more notice so that perhaps she could have made it in from Newfoundland.  We just feared if we waited longer it would get away on us; we wanted to keep it simple.

I couldn’t wear either rings during my pregnancies due to water retention, but it wasn’t a huge deal as Mike could never tolerate wearing his for more than a couple hours at a time.  Looking for something I could wear more permanently, I found this set of rings from Tinahdee and admired it for some time.  So when she contacted me about the blog sponsorship, I was over the moon with joy.  I now have something traditional, but a little earthy to wear everyday.  It fits my finger and personality wonderfully, I wear it all the time, and it is just the right width with the two thin bands together.  Finally, a perfect match!

Mike still doesn’t wear his ring so it keeps my other two company in their carved wooden box.  I don’t mind, I know he loves me.

go gently + be wonderful

e.