When Jeremiah and I got married, he was PFC in the army. In case you don't know, PFCs don't make any money at all. Dirt Poor is a good way to describe it. This being the case, when we went to the store to pick out the rings we presumably would wear for the rest of our lives, I hated all of them. Not only that but they were ridiculously expensive, so I picked out the cheapest ring set (all three rings) which also just happened to be on sale. I wasn't a big fan of them either, but I didn't want to bother looking elsewhere. Lets just say I didn't care much about the rings. I had other things on my mind.
We decided to get married completely out of the blue. We weren't even dating at the time! We had gone out for a year in high school, and after a trial separation we became best friends. We were hardly apart from each other. My baby loved him, and he loved her. When he went to basic, he wrote me letters telling me how much he missed us, and how much he loved me. He'd been telling me this for a long time, so it was nothing new...but the longer he was gone, the more I missed him. After being shipped to Kuwait for six months just after he was sent to his first post, He started calling on a regular basis, sometimes being able to talk to me for hours. Neither one of us really remember what led up to the "let's get married" moment, but suddenly after one particularly long conversation, I was on a mission to plan a wedding in less than two weeks when he would be home on leave after returning from the desert.
The day Jeremiah got home, he was riding a Greyhound bus. I had to scramble to get someone to drive me down to Nashville to get him. (I was too scared to drive in such a big town alone, it freaked me out like crazy) My brother drove with me, and after a crazy ride, and him running the exact same red light three times, we found the station. Now, Jay and I have always had a strange connection. Since we met back when he was fourteen, it seemed like he could read my mind. Anytime I walked into a room he immediately looked up, no matter what he was doing, and was always looking me straight in the eye. This time was no different. I walked into the station, and he was sitting at the end of a long bench, head cast downward so far that it seemed to be between his knees, his huge army issue duffel stuffed to the max laying between his feet. I stood there less than thirty seconds before he looked up and his eyes made a beeline for mine. He got to me so quickly that I barely saw him move. He grabbed me and hugged me so long that my brother started making goofy comments behind us...
I don't remember a single thing the rest of the day. All of it is a complete blur of excitement and craziness. Less than three days later we were married, and making plans to move to Fort Benning.
The one thing I remember Jay saying to me that week was that someday he would buy me a better ring. At the time, I didn't care all that much...so I told him that when we had been married thirteen years he could.
Next year will mark the thirteenth year that we have been married, and in order to truly celebrate our special anniversary, Jay bought me the ring set in the pictures posted here. We picked them out and bought them today. While I was sweating over prices, the one ring that really jumped out at me was one the clerk handed me. I stared at it for a long time before I counted the stones in the middle. If you'll notice, there are thirteen stones on the top. Twelve in a square, then one large on in the middle. I actually teared up a little. I knew then that this was exactly the ring I was going to get, and damn the price. Jay was trying talk me into that one, but it was three times the amount of money I wanted to spend. Jay is just an incredible guy though, he stood in the middle of the store and told everyone how much I deserved it, and well, I do, dang it! I get to wear the engagement ring for a year, so I get to have the engagement I never had, and on September 13th, 2012, we are going to renew our vows, and I will then wear the wedding band. Jay is also going to get a new ring, but as he says, "I'm not in that much of a hurry." He likes his ring, but he also wants the rings to match, so he'll get around to it.
Before you get excited and start looking for invitations to this happy event, let me tell you now, don't bother! When we first got married I wanted to do a ceremony alone in a special spot, but we had to have an official attend to sign the papers. As luck would have it, there was no judge, so I had to get married in a baptist church! Gag!! So, this time we will be completely alone, in the place of our choosing, and we will have our moment. I can't wait to tell him all over again that I will spend the rest of my life with him. Only this time we both know exactly what we are in for.
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