I had the most fabulous night away in Birmingham recently.
My best friend and I went to see the incredible Adele in concert, she was as amazing as I expected. Faultless would be the word to describe her!
We had such a great time, luckily the weather decided to be kind to us, so much so in fact, we spent a wonderful afternoon on the roof top of a bar sipping Prosecco and putting the world to rights as only we know how!
Alcohol was drank, laughs were had and memories were made. Some good and some not so good.
While we may have had amazing luck with the weather, I was on the receiving end of some rather bad luck just before we made our way back to Bristol the following morning.
Deciding to have a cup of tea before heading back down south, we were regaling each other with the previous night's events when suddenly I had the shock of my life.
I happened to touch my engagement ring with my thumb while enjoying an in depth conversation with my dear friend when I felt something rather unfamiliar. I'm often touching my engagement ring with my thumb, it's a habit I've had since I found Wes on bended knee nearly 3 and a half years ago with ring in hand. Perhaps I do it just to make sure it's still there as aside from my house, it's the most expensive thing I own.
On this occasion, the ring was most definitely still on my finger -- just sans diamond.
Yep, that's right folks, the diamond had fallen out of my ring.
DEVASTATION. UTTER DEVASTATION.
I leapt up out of my seat, my best friend wondering what the hell was going on (I am quite a jumpy person mind you) and started scrambling around on the floor.
I know I had it that morning, I remember looking down at my hand only an hour before. My friend even said she had saw it that morning too.
It must be here somewhere. It just HAS TO BE. THIS IS A FUCKING OMEN (melodramatic or what?!)
So there we are, on a Sunday morning, rather hungover, on our hands and knees crawling around on the floor in this rather plush hotel.
It was nowhere to be seen. This beautiful diamond I'd fallen in love with four Christmases previous has gone.
I was mortified, it was one of those moments where I just didn't know what to do. What will I tell Wes? Will he blame me? Surely this isn't supposed to happen?
I tentatively called Wes to inform him of this awful news, waiting for him to lose his shit and give me the dressing down of my life (he's one of only a few people who can put me in my place).
But he didn't. He just shared in my mortifying grief.
He knew this wasn't my fault and the diamond should NEVER fall out of my engagement ring. He told me he even asked the jewelers at the point of purchase about the chances of the diamond escaping as he was about to hand over a serious amount of wedge. They told him there was ABSOLUTELY ZERO CHANCE OF THIS HAPPENING.
What a load of bollocks that was!
The following day we strutted into the jewelers in question, well, when I say strut; I marched. I was on a mission.
We met with the manager who sat us down and listened as I told him my story of utter woe. He was sympathetic and advised me he would look into this as a matter of urgency.
Fast forward two weeks and I'm missing my ring so much.
I know it's "only a piece of jewelry", but actually, it's not. It's something that holds such special memories for me, something that I often look at and admire, feeling very lucky to own such a beautiful item.
I met with the jewelers yesterday and although he informed me the makers have accepted full responsibility for this happening, due to the fact there was a fault with the markers that held the diamond in place. I was gutted to be told I'll have to wait another five weeks to receive my ring, complete with replacement diamond.
It's my 30th birthday in two weeks (if you didn't know!) and I have lots of lovely things planned like a party and other various celebrations. It makes me feel sad to think I won't have my gorgeous ring sitting pretty on my left hand. In years to come when I flick through photos of my milestone birthday, I know I'll feel a pang of sadness that I'm ringless in all of the pictures. Despite my often harsh exterior, I really am quite a sentimental person when it comes down to it, and losing the diamond in my ring has shown me this.
Of course, I've had the conversation of compensation with the manager of the jewelers, he was in agreement, asking me if Wes and I are planning on getting hitched any time soon, which as many of you will know, we're not. So, free or discounted wedding rings are out of the picture.
Although, I do have my eye on a rather gorgeous looking watch they have in their display window at the moment...