Geary's Wedding Ring (Part One)

I mentioned earlier that I'm styling hair for a wedding this month.  The bride and her mother were over at my house for a practice session last week.  While we were chatting the bride mentioned that one of the most pressing items on her to-do list was purchasing her groom's wedding band.   She was feeling a bit stressed about it because the wedding is only a few weeks away and she needed to find an affordable ring very quickly.   I remembered being in the same position exactly nine years ago.

Geary told me he wanted a plain, rounded, white gold band.  We went to Fred Meyer Jewelers and he tried on several different men's rings before deciding that 6mm would be the perfect band width.  I asked the jeweler to write his price for the ring on the back of a business card and then hit the mall to see if I could find a better deal.  At each jewelry store I asked an employee to write their price on a business card.  If their price was higher than another jeweler's I would show the business card with the lower price to see if they would offer to beat their competition. The last shop I tried offered me an incredible price--I didn't have to show them any of my other jeweler's business cards at all! 

There was just one catch.  The ring I wanted wasn't in stock but they had several on order and they would be in the next week.  That worked for me!  The wedding was four weeks away so I crossed "Geary's Ring" off of my list and dove into the next project.  

A week passed and I had not heard from the jewelry store.  I called them and learned that the shipment was late but that I shouldn't worry--it would arrive next week.  Of course I worried but not too much.  I still had three weeks until the big day.

When another week passed and the ring had still not arrived, I was worried.  Instead of calling, I went into the store and waved around my "special order" carbon copied slip.  Thankfully, I had not paid for the ring yet because they did not seem to feel the same sort of urgency that I did about this ring.  "Don't worry, these shipments are coming on boats from Europe!  Of course they will be late.  Your ring will be here in time for your wedding."  I was wary but left the store praying that what they said would be true.

Five days before our wedding day, I still didn't have the ring and the jewelry store wasn't returning my phone calls. When I called I would be placed on hold and then be "forgotten."  I ventured into the store again, trying hard not to cry.  The jeweler said, "There is nothing that can be done.  How about this: you purchase the platinum ring--see it looks just like the white gold.  And then when your ring does arrive, you can bring it in and we will refund your money."   I knew then that my ring would never arrive.  And that it probably had never been ordered in the first place.  While the jeweler went to back room to find alternate rings I tore my special order slip in half and then in half again and left it on the counter.