Dan proposed to me on our waterfall in North Carolina, but gave me an engagement ring soon after while we were on a trip to Jamaica. I loved the tanzanite stone surrounded by diamonds- something different for a second marriage. Over the past thirteen years I made the mistake of wearing the ring to do house and yard work, resulting in a severely cracked stone and some missing diamonds. Dan suggested that I either have the ring repaired or just replace it with something special. After doing some research, I decided to replace it, but have my first ring repaired later. I’m quite the sentimental gal, so just giving up that first ring was not an option.
I went online and poured through rings until suddenly, I saw it. I knew right away that it was the one; another beautiful tanzanite stone surrounded by diamonds, but this time in an oval shape rather than the pointed ends of the first ring – hopefully safer in protecting the diamonds. I ordered it with Dan’s blessing and excitedly waited for FedEx to deliver it.
This was all happening during the craziness of preparations for my big clarinet symposium, and so our schedules were erratic. We missed the first attempted delivery, even driving all over the neighborhood in hopes of finding the FedEx man. No luck. We would have to wait for them to try delivering it again, but with our nutty schedules, we had no idea if we could be at home when they came.
The next day I was at school working frantically to teach and prepare for my event, stressed to the max. Dan came to whisk me away for a quick lunch, and as I hurried out to the car, I saw him jump out of the Roadster smiling from ear to ear. I realized why when I noticed the giant FedEx truck almost blocking him in. Dan went to the back of the truck, and there was the driver, here to deliver some packages to the music department…with my ring in his hand. Without names mentioned, Dan said, “Are you?” and the FedEx man said, “Are you?” Seriously, what are the chances? We all started laughing at the serendipity of it all. I think maybe our angels, our parents, had a little hand in making a bit of magic, a bit of romance, happen. We got in the car and then this happened…
Now, no matter how stressful it gets this weekend, I will look at my ring, this beautiful symbol of the great love and friendship that Dan and I share, and I will smile. Love is the greatest gift of all.
The View from Here 