Engagement Rings: "What Are They Good For? Absolutely Nuthin"

About six months ago I began looking at the rings women wear on the third finger of their left hand. The reason for this is because I bought my wife a second engagement ring last fall. I felt I owed it to her; sorta, kinda.

We became engaged July 20, 1969 immediately after I had taken a coaching, teaching position in Storm Lake, Iowa.

We walked across Lake Street from my downtown apartment and gazed in the window of the local jeweler. Rings, even back then weren't inexpensive. My fiancé' had stars in her eyes and all I could think about were dollar signs.

Eventually we settled on a diamond that cost $175.00. The stone was half the size of a bb. I laid twenty bucks on the counter as a down payment. The future Mrs. loaned me the rest. Not bad, huh?

Anyway, I thought this was good because if this whole marriage thing didn't work out she could keep the stone and I'd only be out only a double sawbuck.

Ten years ago or so the diamond that could fit on the finger of Tinkerbelle fell out and was lost to the ages. Thinking positively this worked out to around $3.00 per year or less.

I don't know why men do this but my conscience started bothering me about my wife not having glitter on her hand. I did a minimal amount of research on diamonds(Zales, Diamonds R' Us) but then my neighbor intervened. He had a good friend who was world famous in this department. He set us up to see the fella in Chattanooga, Tennessee who could design a bauble for us(her). And he did.

The stone my wife picked out was nice but not as big as the Queen Mary. It was functional, let people know someone liked her but also said, "don't steal this thing because it's not worth the effort"

So, three days ago, I'm lounging in the Sky Harbor airport in Phoenix with three hours to kill. I start looking at diamonds and those wearing them. This is going to be a simple to understand concept. The babes who are easy on the eyes sport the largest ones. If their other assets add to their facial features then the diamond grows exponentially. I'm wondering, though, about the guys who shell out the cash. Does buying something this large for their one and only mean other aggressive males had best stay away? Do they think because they broke the bank to buy one they can get action whenever they get the urge? Do they realize their bank account could have purchased a nice boat or Maserati?

Here's something else I've taken into consideration and I'm speaking in generalizations. The older the women the smaller the diamond. Why is this?
Women in their 30's who look exceptionally good get the largest of the large. It's nonsensical.
 Ladies should have to earn the right to sashay down the street wearing the Hope Diamond.

In the 1950's I was watching a video of Superman. Lois, Jimmy and Clark Kent were stranded on a Pacific island with no way to get off. A native tribe was holding them captive and a large diamond was missing from their pagan god's eye socket so this trio and a couple of other folks were about to suffer the consequences. Clark, aka Superman, grabbed a chunk of coal and with super human power by squeezing it in the palm of his hand fashioned a diamond and gave it to the natives. Problem solved.

My suggestion is why not have a piece of coal placed in a setting and give it to your fiancé'? In time it will develop into the precious stone. If a guy doesn't plan on living for millions of years don't worry about it. For a lot of fellas marriage can seem that long.