That Looks Good On You

And no, it doesn't make your butt look big. To be fair, I've never been asked that dreaded question and she doesn't have a butt that lends itself to looking big anyway. I just couldn't pass up the joke. Sunday was Round 2 of information gathering for what Teri likes in jewelry because, well, I'm a guy and I can count on one finger the number of times I've picked out a ring. That time was my high school class ring, so that hardly counts as good practice. Even if I was a professional jeweler, there's still the matter of learning Teri's personal taste in rings. I did tag along with J-rod and Mom when he was looking at rings for Melissa, so I did learn some of the basics way back when, but now that I'm leading the proceedings it's a whole new deal.

You might be saying "But Matt, you and Teri both know you won't be getting engaged until after she's met your family over Labor Day weekend, why are you looking now?". To that I'd say "Pay attention, you rube!". I'm looking now and getting the 911 now so that when it is time to be shopping for realsies Teri won't be any the wiser as to the goings-on of ring purchasery. She wants to be surprised but not shocked when it happens. I intend to make both of those happen.

I realize what a tangent I've veered off on, so I'll get back to the meat of the story (mmm, meaty story). So anyway, we're at the store looking at rings, and for the first time Teri was trying on the rings and we looked at different diamonds and whatnot. I had already told the girls working at the ring vendor establishment what my timeframe for purchaseration was so as to take as much pressure off of the situation as possible. I know that sales pressure is the thing Teri most wants to avoid on these excursions, so I try to eliminate as much pressure as possible up front and take what's left on me so she can relax and enjoy the bling. I hope I've been successful with that so far. Now, I've made comments to Teri prior to Sunday about how I'm pretty sure I'm going to marry her and how I really want to marry her but that I realize we need to get to know each other better first. Seeing an engagement ring on her finger, even though it wasn't her ring, made the idea of marrying her more real than it's ever been. I'm not sure if I was more excited about that or if she was. There seemed to be plenty to go around, so I'm fine calling it a draw. I already felt like I won when I met her anyway.

And how could I not get excited about that? There she is just sitting in the chair next to me smiling ear to ear, my gorgeous girlfriend who I've already thought about marrying, with a real-life engagement ring on. It was the first tangible preview of her as my fiancee. I've waited 31 years to meet her, and she's more right for me than anyone I've ever met (and, quite frankly, more right for me than I ever expected a woman to be). How would I not be looking forward to marrying her? As I am a generally impatient gent and as I am completely ass over teakettle for Teri, I have a feeling that waiting to marry her will be the longest wait of my life. How do people date for years before getting married? I have absolutely no desire for that brand of foot dragging. I suppose I might have felt differently about that if I had met her a decade ago, but her dad would have come after me with a shotgun, and rightly so, if I had started dating her then. Is it time yet? How about now? Not now? Crap. I guess I'll keep waiting. At least I can finally see the finish line in the distance, which is actually the starting line, but that's another subject altogether.