Diamonds are A) forever B) a girl's best friend C) dead

I recently saw Charlize Theron's J'Adore Dior ad again and remembered that I loved it. There's something so incredible about the entire scene; she looks fabulous in her jewels and dress, but even more fabulous as she's tossing it all aside.

I love the lines "Gold is cold. Diamonds are dead."

Speaking of diamonds, how the hell did they become the stone of choice for engagement rings? Yes, yes, I know you know about DeBeers manufacturing demand by making them seem scarce, but how did they get into engagement rings, specifically? Mental_Floss had an interesting article on the subject.

My favorite quote came from a DeBeers chairman: "Diamonds are intrinsically worthless, except for the deep psychological need they fill."

I am not about to judge this choice. I ended up with a diamond, albeit a teal one.

Hi there, engagement ring! I love you!

Gosh, it's pretty.

Anyways, I think diamonds may have been a popular choice for rings even without the marketing and creation-of-demand by the diamond industry. Diamonds are, after all, the hardest gem, and therefore the most durable. The phrase "a diamond is forever" is catchy but also descriptive. After all, we've gravitated towards platinum for the metal because it's so strong and durable.

I would have loved an opal ring, as it's one of my favorite stones. But, opal shatters easily. Very easily. And, the older opals get, the more the water leeches out of the stones, leaving them dull. The whole beauty of opals are their fragility, the water content radiating colors from within.

Plus, diamonds are sparkley when they're cut well. I'll never understand why raw diamonds are such a big deal on etsy, or the rose-cut ones. I love the look of a rose-cut stone in a bezel setting, but why spend so much for a diamond? Why not just get a rose-cut quartz or other stone? Most of the sparkle is gone from a stone like that.

I almost had a sapphire engagement ring, until Kate Szabone (my awesome jeweler) sent me pictures of different stones she had in stock. As soon as that little oval teal diamond showed up in my life, there was no going back. I distinctly remember a conversation with my maid of honor while I was trying to decide on a stone where she said "You already know you want that one. You keep coming back to it."

It's true. That magnetic attraction has only intensified since being proposed to. I still love looking down at the ring in different lights to see how the diamond looks. Sometimes it seems inky blue, other times it seems more green than blue. It looks best under stage lights and early morning light. It looks best on my hand where I can admire it. It reminds me of John and how much he loves me.

That's the whole point of the engagement ring.

Y'all can have your white diamonds. They are pretty, and I don't blame you one bit for wanting one (as long as you get a conflict-free diamond, of course). But mine is purely, perfectly me, and for that reason it is the best ring in the whole world. I will never see one I want more than the one already on my hand, which was custom made to my exact specifications, from the bezel setting to the sideways setting of the stone to the grooved, whisper-thin band so that I could still play violin with it on.