It was a rainy afternoon in late March and I was driving to work pondering all of life’s milestones that lay ahead of me. The older I get the more I realize how quickly time passes and how we are seldom properly prepared to celebrate a special occasion. I was determined not to fall into that category. 2018 will be a big year for my family and me. 2018 is the year I celebrate 25 years of marriage, a 50th birthday, AJ's Jewelry 30th anniversary, and finally my first born will graduate college. 2018 will be a year I will never forget!
This is a lot to think about while driving to work I thought to myself. But, there was one thought that stood out the most in my head; what am I going to get for my wife to celebrate putting up with me for the past 25 years.
At first my mind was racing with thoughts of going to exotic and romantic places like Tahiti, Italy, Hawaii, so many options. Then I considered purchasing a very expensive handbag, a pair of elegant shoes or maybe even a new car. But let’s face it, after 25 years of purchasing gifts for someone you tend to run out of original ideas. I was determined this time to make sure this gift would be extremely meaningful and something she would have for the rest of her life, something that she would cherish forever. My hope was that when she gazed at it, it would bring happy memories we shared through the years. Even though I had 10 months before my anniversary, I knew I had to get started before something else distracted me from being prepared for this special day. Then it hit me like a bolt of lightning! I decided to reset her diamond from her original engagement ring into a new beautiful custom setting which I personally would design for her. She had mentioned awhile back that one day she would like to change the setting, but keep her original diamonds.
Before
The original mounting had a marquis diamond center with one trillion diamond on each side. When I designed the ring back in 1991 it was unique and turned many heads. But with time many new ideas for settings became available, making anyone with a fashion sense want to change it up a bit. Especially since her husband is in the jewelry business, and getting to see, in person, so many new styles. After laboring on exactly how to redesign her ring, I decided to surround her marquis and trillion diamonds with smaller round diamonds to enhance the diamond’s beauty and make the diamonds appear much bigger. The results were incredible:
After
I was completely blown away by the beauty of my wife’s new engagement ring. For the first time in a while I was completely speechless. I could not believe my eyes! At this point I knew I was not going to be able to wait for our anniversary to give her this object of beauty. I also knew I had to give it to her at just the right time to make it extra special and meaningful.
It was mid-May and my son had just returned from completing his Junior year of college. My wife and I were thrilled to have him home again. Unfortunately, it would be a short reunion. This was the year he was going to do an internship on Capitol Hill which meant he would be leaving us again for two and a half months. Naturally, my wife and I were going to miss him dearly, but he had to complete this program to graduate on time.
As time passed and each day went by, I could see my wife’s discontent with my son’s absence. One night I came home and found my wife and daughter making dinner in the kitchen. It just so happens she made my favorite, Spaghetti, and homemade meatballs. That always puts me in a good mood, but I also noticed that my wife was in a bit of a funk missing our boy. I felt terrible seeing her this way. Then it dawned on me that perhaps this was the excellent opportunity to spring the new engagement ring on her and cheer her up. I knew this would instantly make this an incredibly memorable day, one we would all remember. As my wife was cleaning off the table and finishing the dishes I texted my daughter and told her that I was about to give mom the ring and I wanted her to video the event. I waited for her to be almost finished and then this happened: