Pseudotherapy

Last night I dreamed I got engaged. Not to Bret (or even Karl), to some blonde guy that I didn’t recognize. In my dream I was young and gorgeous (of course — who dreams about being old and ugly?), and madly in love with this guy. When he gave me my engagement ring it was a stunning smoky topaz, and he made this lovely speech about choosing it because the stone matched my beautiful brown eyes. Si-i-i-gh.

I’m not a huge fan of diamonds. It’s not that I don’t like diamonds; I do indeed. But I usually prefer colored stones. I don’t give a snap about what’s valuable. When it comes to bling, all I care about is what’s pretty. And to me a pink tourmaline is much prettier than your average diamond. So many diamonds only truly sparkle when the light hits them just right (which is why I prefer good quality CZ). But you just can’t quench the fire in a decent ruby.

My favorite gemstone is actually not pink tourmaline (surprise!), but a relatively new stone called Mozambique tourmaline. Depending on the levels of copper in it, it can be found in a wide range of blue-greens, but my preference is for the deep aqua-blue that reminds me of my beloved ocean. And since I’m a December child, this stone would be appropriate for my birthstone since it’s in the turquoise color range. It’s sooo much more beautiful than plain blue topaz or zircon, which is the usual faceted-gemstone choice for December.

I like the romance of colored gemstones, too. You know, meanings given to certain jewels hundreds of years ago. An emerald symbolizes faithfulness. Amethysts are the stone of wisdom. Rubies stand for passion, sapphires for honesty. Diamonds, before DeBeers came up with their slogan, were symbols of innocence rather than eternity. Back in the olden days giving a smoky topaz was probably the equivalent of serenading your lady with “Brown-Eyed Girl,” don’t you think?

So I’m curious, what do you prefer? Whether you would be the giver or the recipient, what’s your idea of the perfect engagement ring, the central player in your proposal fantasy? And if you’ve already got one, is it exactly what you’d dreamed of?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 3rd, 2007 at 7:54 am and is filed under Fashion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.