When Craig and I reached the point in our relationship that we knew each other was "the one" and that marriage was in our future, I began looking
at engagement rings. I looked at many rings from several of my favorite places and although I thought every one of them was beautiful, none of them had the feeling that it was THE engagement ring for me. When I visited Craig and his family in New York in May 2010, his paternal grandmother Grandma Ruth had passed down a diamond ring to Craig that has been passed down grandmother to grandchild in their family since the Civil War era. Craig told me that one day after we were married that he wanted me to have the ring if I wanted it. When I saw it, I was taken aback by its history and beauty. I asked him if I could try it on and it FIT MY HAND PERFECTLY! I immediately knew that I had found the ring I wanted for my engagement ring when that day came, and I told Craig right then and there. Craig and I arrived on Friday, July 3, 2010 to celebrate the 4th of July with his family at his family’s beach house at Beach Haven, Long Beach Island, New Jersey. He told me how special Beach Haven and their family’s house there was to him because he had so many wonderful memories there since he was a young boy. He told me how happy he was to bring me there and show me the place that was so special to him. When we arrived, his father told me, “We are going to have a great 4th. We’re going to have lots of sparklers.”
On the 4th of July at dusk, Craig asked me to take a walk with him and we began walking toward the bay overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. We stopped at an overlook deck and almost immediately a family came to the deck area. Craig seemed almost upset and he asked told me he wanted to keep walking to another area. He took me to the next deck overlook and asked me what I thought about it. I said it was nice and I would be right back because I was going to run back to the house and get my sunglasses and a hair tie. He laughed, took me by the hand and said “You don’t need any of that right now. Come on!” and began slowly pulling me to the overlook deck. He said, “There’s something I want you to have. I have a question I want to ask you.” Then he reached in his pocket and pulled out a ring box. He got down on one knee and asked me,”Will you marry me?” I exclaimed, “YES I WILL!” and I jumped into this arms and he lifted me off the ground in an embrace. So on the 4th of July 2010 at 8:00 p.m. on a deck overlooking the Atlantic Ocean at Beach Haven, Craig asked me to be his wife and I said yes. As we embraced, I looked up to the beautiful summer sky full of the fluffy white clouds my late, great mother Jan loved and a pretty blue sky my late, beloved Grandma Cleva always loved and in that instant, I felt them watching me and Craig from above in our moment of bliss. I looked up toward Heaven and smiled the smile my Mom always said would light up the room in the dark.
We walked back to the house and his parents embraced me first, then their son and we all cried happy tears. His parents had a seafood feast dinner for us to celebrate our engagement. We walked as a family down to watch the fireworks by the sea at the yacht club. Craig and I certainly did “ring” in the 4th!
