The engagement ring and how to pay for it for years

Fule for Thought

 

Most young men these days plan elaborate ways to ask their loved ones to marry them. In fact, if you go on YouTube and search “World’s Best Wedding Proposal … Movie Theatre,” you’ll see a brilliant one done by a young American guy.  

You really do have to see it; or see the marriage proposal that was on “Mobbed” last season. Both of these examples only serve to make my own proposal that much more sad and pathetic! Before I bare my soul to you, let me just say that the 80’s were a strange decade, and I was a pretty naïve mountain boy from Canmore.

It was early 1984 and Debbie and I had been ring shopping where we both picked one she loved. Stupidly, the idea was: that I would pick up the ring on a certain Friday night, ask her to marry me, and we’d go to a nice restaurant for dinner. Then after this incredibly romantic event, we’d drive to Canmore and surprise our parents and Deb’s grandparents. Even THIS sounds pretty lame as proposals go, but wait, it gets worse!

The Friday arrived and I packed up after school. Excitedly, I raced to Calgary to Peoples’ Jewelers to pick up the massive “rock.”  

Okay, it was a cluster of really small diamonds, but still expensive, for me! Now here’s where me, being a naïve bumpkin from the Rockies, comes into play. I arrived at Peoples’, showed my receipt, and was ready to meet Deb. Much to my shock and horror, the saleslady said I could not take possession of the ring until it was paid in full. I thought (like a car purchase back then), that you could put money down, get the ring, and pay it off. But no, Shirley (if that was her real name!) said I could not have the ring, as I still owed a large amount (I won’t bother telling you how much … that would be too painful).

Cell phones were not being used in 1984, so I slowly shuffled to a mall pay phone (again like The Green Mile), to face the music with Deb. After explaining the bad news, Deb replied …  “where are you right now?”  

I told her where I was (probably should have lied), and she drove over. What happened next is still very painful for me. Deb paid for her own engagement ring in cash, and I had to pay monthly payments to her until it was paid off!! We then did go out for dinner where I asked her to marry me, while parked outside the restaurant. She promptly turned me down, and told me “that’s not the way you’re supposed to ask me!”  

I tried again, and I must have done it right, because she said “yes!” 

So, let this be a lesson to all the young men planning to get engaged this year. Do it right, put some heart and thought into it … don’t be like me! Otherwise you’ll pay for it in more ways than one, and for a longer time!!  

As a sidebar, I secretly bought a silver and diamond ring for our 25th anniversary, and surprised Deb before we went to Hawaii. She thinks it was romantic … I just wanted to get rid of that other ring. It had way too much history!

 

“Fule for Thought” is a slice of life humourous column that will appear in the Strathmore Times, written by long-time resident, town councillor, high school teacher, coach, husband and father of two – Pat Fule. If you would like to get in touch with Pat, you can send him an e-mail at Pat.fule@shaw.ca.