Treasures from the Heart

I mentioned in an earlier post that I am participating in a photo a day challenge through Instagram.  One of the recent prompts was "two."  I actually wracked my brain and searched and searched for subject matter for this prompt.  Finally, close to bedtime, I realized I have two rings I wear everyday.  Yes, it was a "Well, hello, DUH" moment, but hey we all have those.  So, I went and placed my rings in my light box and took a picture of them.  I have had both rings for quite a while now.

The garnet birthstone ring I've had the longest.  It was a birthday gift from my husband before we were even engaged.  He gave it to me on my 23rd birthday.  We'd been dating for about 5 1/2 years when he gave me this ring.  I still had one semester of college left to complete before I graduated.  This ring is indicative of the thought my husband has ALWAYS put into gifts for me.  He was so worried I would not like it but it was perfect, exactly what I would have picked out for myself.  It has several scratches and the stone needs to be buffed, but I still love this ring so much because I know the love that went into buying it.  Since I just recently celebrated my birthday, that ring is now 21 years old.

The other ring is my engagement ring/wedding band set.  My husband and I shopped for this together because he refused to pick it out for me.  We shopped a jewelry store that sells the diamonds separate from the settings.  They even gave us a little class on the qualities of diamonds and let us look at them with one of those monocle thingies.  So, my engagement ring was made just for me.  

I didn't want anything elaborate for a wedding band since my engagement ring was sparkly enough on it's own.  The shape of my engagement ring made it really difficult for it to fit against a plain gold band.  So, the jewelry store literally built my band onto my engagement ring so it wraps around it.  It is soldered onto my engagement ring so that it's all together.  

I am still very much in love with my bridal set and the memory of us shopping together for it is a very special one.  In February it will be 18 years since I got my engagement ring.  My husband proposed on Valentine's Day.  But, when it was time to have the wedding band put on it I had to give it up until our wedding day.  We got married in November and we celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary this past November.  

These two rings are really my most prized material possessions, not just because of their bling, but because of what they represent and symbolize.  So many years of love and friendship are linked to these two small pieces of jewelry that sometimes it overwhelms me to think about it, because with all the years added together, we have been together for 26 1/2 years.  I can see all our memories and our future in both rings.

What material possession do you treasure most?