June 07, 2024   |   Read Online



I was sitting at my computer, getting ready to click the big green “Purchase” button on the screen, but before I could do it, a sharp fear and pain came over 27-year-old body.

After I clicked this button, my whole life was NEVER going to be the same.

The purchase? It was nothing but the biggest decision of my life.

An engagement ring.

I had been dating my wonderful girlfriend at the time for about a year and she was perfect.

I went to her house (yup, she owned a house on her own), and she cooked a full-course meal from scratch. She understood the value of having a budget and was respectful of her family, my family, and me.

She had it all (and still has it all).

Yet, still sitting in my warn-out LSU-branded gaming chair (I’m from Louisiana), I was still terrified about closing the deal.

Remember, she was perfect for me, so my hesitation had nothing to do with her and everything to do with me.

How am I supposed to care for a wife and, hopefully, a family?

I had a steady job at a local bank, but I was going to quit because I was moving across the country to where she lived in Connecticut.

I laid my head on the keyboard, contemplating, “What skill do I have that I can use in Connecticut?”

Because my face was smack dab on the keyboard, my silver, old-school 2007 Dell laptop started beeping strangely.

I looked up, and the screen had the “blue screen of death” thing going on, but I was a wiz at the computer, so it didn’t take me long to read the screen, press a couple of buttons, and be back at the diamond website getting ready to hit purchase.