Peridots and periwinkle blue medallions

Above: peridot and Celtic knot! The engagement of Fox and I.

***

Goodness, it's been a while! Two weeks passed by in the blink of an eye, again. As you can see from the photo, a lot has happened... the most significant, probably, is that I'm engaged!

We've actually been engaged for a while, since summer in fact, but we hadn't had a chance to find rings to make it "official." But we decided that Thanksgiving weekend would be the perfect time to announce it to family and friends, because that's one of the times of the year when the most family gathers in one place at one time. So we went out to DragonSpace (only my favourite little shop ever), where they sell locally made jewellery of mostly Celtic, fantasy, or nature-inspired design. We didn't want to spend a lot of money (we don't have a lot of money -- we don't even have a moderate amount of money, actually!), and I really, really don't see the point of spending hundreds to thousands of dollars on a piece of jewellery because it contains a type of mineral that has been arbitrarily assigned a ridiculously high value.

So you see, I'm pretty practical at times! But seriously; I would rather the money be spent on almost anything else. I think that semi-precious stones are at least as beautiful as diamonds and such, and they are a mere fraction of the cost. Diamonds are really just a status symbol, and I don't need any of that because impressing people with money is just not important to me. I'd rather impress them with my charm and wit, ha. As long as the jewellery is of high enough quality that it won't turn my finger green or fall apart, I wanted it to be as cheap as possible. The Fox agreed too.

You may notice that we both have a ring. Another thumbing of the nose to silly old traditions, ha! We are both equal partners in our relationship. I don't understand why the lady should have a ring while the man doesn't. We're both getting married, aren't we? And I don't understand why the man should be expected to pay for it, too. (Especially if it is a diamond that costs thousands of dollars!) It's essentially proving your love through money. I don't agree with that. Love should be proved through everyday actions and words, and a show of support and affection. An outlandishly expensive ring doesn't prove anything except your willingness to throw money away for the sake of conforming to a silly outdated social custom, in my humble opinion.

Anyway...!

Not sure how I got on that tangent, BUT! The important thing is that we're engaged. :)

I chose an Elvish-looking silver ring with a green peridot. No particular significance to the gemstone other than that it's just a lovely colour, and green to me can speak of new beginnings and growth. I was also looking at some amethyst, pearl, and moonstone rings, but I have funny little tiny fingers with knobbly knuckles and there were few in my size. Luckily this one was a perfect fit and we both loved it. And the Fox's ring was pretty easy to pick out; he knew he wanted a Celtic-patterned band, and DragonSpace had plenty of options for him. His ring size is twice that of mine!

It was fun to pick them out. I really love all the jewellery at that shop. It's all so gorgeous! (And reasonably priced!)

Since a lot of people have asked me for the "engagement story," I'll make a quick note of it here. It wasn't really anything romantic or elaborate, though. We were basically just hanging out on Fox's bed, having a chat about this and that. He said that something sad had just happened to us, but I can't remember what it was specifically. We were having a deep chat, anyway, as we do, and he said, "I don't have a ring or anything, but..." And of course I knew what was coming then.

I wasn't expecting that so soon; we've only been dating for about a year and a few months now! However, I wasn't particularly shocked. We do live together, after all, and we always talk about the future and what we want out of life. (Still trying to figure that part out, to be honest, but we're on the same page anyway!) So I agreed.

I never really thought I would get married, to be perfectly truthful! I've always been of an independent nature (as far as I can remember), and a bit of a hermit... but I thought, what if I regret it one day? Deliberately locking myself away in a cave? Sure, maybe I would have the time and energy to perfect my craft and become a famous artist or whatever. But would that really matter much if I hadn't given other things in my life a chance to flourish and develop? Happiness has to do with other people; I think it's pretty hard to be truly happy if you deliberately choose to avoid love because it's risky or because it takes a lot of effort and time.

I did look to the example of my own parents for this one. Not least because the Fox reminds me of my own dad in some ways! I thought of my mom, and how alike we are sometimes. She likes to be alone, too, and do her own things (reading, music, etc.), and she is so clever and talented that I have no doubt she could have done anything she wanted to do. Yet she decided to settle down and have a family. I have never once thought that she has regretted that decision; it seems that we all make her quite happy! And I'm certainly glad she decided to have a family, ha!

So, I figure, if my mom did it, she's probably on to something, and I should give that whole thing a shot too. I also thought of the "triple goddess" symbolism in paganism. The three stages of the moon; waxing, full, and waning; they relate to the triple goddess, the maiden, the mother, and the crone. I still consider myself to be in the maiden stage, because I'm sure not a mother yet! However, it got me thinking, and it does make a certain sense, for me anyways. I do believe you can totally still relate to those phases without physically being a mother, though. Some people never get married and have children, and that's a completely valid and respectable choice (especially with the overcrowding of our planet in this day and age). But I thought about the biology courses I took, and life in general. If I am really looking to nature for guidance and inspiration, why should I shun the opportunity to gain a life partner and (potentially, one day) procreate? It's what all the other life on Earth strives for; continuation of species. And although I don't think it necessarilly has to be the primary goal of every person, there is a certain importance and sort of... basicness about it. (That's not a word.)

What I'm trying to clumsily say is that I don't want to limit myself and miss out on new and different joys and experiences just because I didn't expect them to ever happen to me. I never thought I would travel to so many different countries, either, but here I am, having been to France, Germany, Switzerland, Ireland, England... and I'm all the better for it.

So I guess that's the news of the moment!

We received so many congratulations from all our friends and family. It was fun to post in on Facebook and watch the notifications roll in. I kind of bungled the announcement at Thanksgiving, unfortunately. We sort of had a half-thought-out plan to just wear the rings and see who noticed first, but that didn't really work out, because my rings were noticed, but since I tend to wear a lot of different jewellery, it was just thought that I had a pretty new ring! I practically waved it in my mom's face and pointed at my ring finger until she realized what I was trying to articulate. At which point she got excited and told me to make an announcement to everyone, but then I felt kind of awkward and shy and I couldn't bring myself to call everyone's attention, so the news kind of just jumped from person to person. Hah!! We should have just waited until dinner and called a toast or something. Oh well... everyone was happy for us, regardless!

We don't have a date or any specific wedding plans yet. I want to get done with my second round of schooling first, so we have a better income and a bit more stability, hopefully, so as to actually afford a wedding. We would like to have a medieval/fantasy-themed wedding, to a degree, because that would just be awesome. Sometime within the next five years, hopefully!

I guess that's all for now; other than that I've just been working, as usual. Doing a bit of art when I can. I'm working on a drawing of an iguana for my dad's birthday, which I need to finish within the next couple days actually, so I should really work on that now.

Until next time, beloved readers...