About this piece
This one is close to my heart—it’s the ring I bought Elizabeth when, while living in San Francisco, I finally decided I was ready to marry her. 😊
We met as baggers (courtesy clerks, to be precise) at our local Fry’s Food & Drug. Being awkward high schoolers, we barely spoke, except for a quick quip from Elizabeth one stormy day as we exchanged equipment:
“You’re not a courtesy clerk until you do carts in the rain!”
She was so cute. 😅 Little did I know I’d be dating her 3 years later in college.
Elizabeth moved up to Flagstaff for film school, and I started studying design. We stayed in touch on Facebook, commenting (flirting) on each other’s photos. One winter break, she reached out and offered to get together, to catch up and share design/film school stuff!
That first not-date started feeling very much like a date by the time she was sitting on my lap in the back seat of my college buddy’s Jeep, somehow still insanely classy in her tasteful eye shadow, black pencil skirt, and Vans. (to make the outfit “casual” 😋 )
I asked Elizabeth to be my girlfriend in the wee hours of February 23rd, 2013, but we called our anniversary Feb. 22nd since that had been our date night.
6 years later, my temporary move to San Francisco grew me up in a series of waves, waves of realizations of how much this woman meant to me, and how ready I was to truly make her mine. I started researching rings, and instantly knew this was the one: rose gold, with a unique flower shape, yet so elegant in its simplicity. Just like my love. 😊
Two weeks later, the ring was stashed in my nightstand, and Elizabeth made my San Francisco Airbnb bed feel much less lonely, for a weekend. I showed her everything I’d discovered about the city, and we planned a fun hike in the California redwoods.
On February 22nd, 2019, we reached a sunny meadow at the height of our hike, and I fumbled awkwardly through her camera bag to snatch the box I’d so poorly hidden from her. 🙈
On February 22nd, 2019, I got down on one knee and instantly forgot everything I’d planned to say as I looked up into Elizabeth Nelson’s beautiful wide eyes and bumbled my way through a very long overdue proposal.
Then, 364 days later on February 21st, 2020, we tied the knot! 😀 Now, we joke that we get a 3-day weekend anniversary every year. 🙌
Images used
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