I had my first proposal of marriage on Valentine’s Day, more years back than I would care to admit. While we had looked at rings, I truly was surprised when the moment came. No flowers or fancy environment, he proposed in my living room late in the morning. He got down on one knee (I was sitting) and pulled out a ring and said, “Will you marry me?”

Now any sane young woman would say “Yes” to a proposal – or maybe “No” or “Let me think about it. . .”  Not me. No, I looked at the beautiful gold band with a diamond and two rubies and said “Oh, it’s the wrong ring!”

I think that took him a bit by surprised. “Is that a yes or a no?”

“Yes! But, it’s the wrong ring! I wanted white gold!”

I accepted the proposal and rejected the ring. Seriously. He had worked hard to get that ring, in the right size, for that particular day. I found out that an employee from the jewelery store had to drive to another store the day before to pick it up and have it ready. Imagine her surprise when we walked into that jewelry store to exchange the ring for one with while gold (no rubies although they were not the issue.)  We had to wait a few days for the diamond to be reset, and then he did the proposal – again.

When I called my parents to let them know I was engaged, my father answered. I told him about the issue with the ring and what I had said. He surprised me with his response: “Your mother said the same thing to me when I proposed!” Too funny! I had never heard that story before!

I still, all these years later, laugh at how I responded to a marriage proposal, unwittingly the same way as my own mother had!

We won’t talk about whether it was the “right man.”  He canceled the engagement six months before the wedding and I returned the ring at that time.