⌐ AV8OR WANNABE

My buddy emailed me this blog entry, I though it was a cute story on a special UPS delivery... I sympathize because very recently I too ordered that special delivery...


Saturday, July 12, 2008

The Tale of the Special Stone


Here's the trouble of becoming engaged to someone who lives on another continent: you have to do ring shopping together ONLINE. When Kingsley proposed, he used a ring that has history and is gorgeous (it was his grandmother's) but said I could pick out a diamond (he's so sweet). So, we shopped in stores, talked to jewelers in South Africa, the states and London, and also looked at stones online. We finally decided on one and selected a setting. Hooray! Time to ship it.

Right.

It was set to go next day air via UPS (United Parcel Service). The jeweler called me with the tracking number and confirmed the shipping address. Let the worrying begin. I couldn't sleep that night or relax that day. Every 5 minutes I was tracking the box online. It went from New York across the country and finally made it to Eugene at 4:33am. Thank goodness. I would have it later that day.

I woke up early and turned the music and TV off so I could listen all morning for the sounds of the UPS truck. Sadly, I even waited by the window watching for a sign of my package. I went so far as to post a small note on my mailbox directing the friendly UPS man to the side of the house to my apartment.

Hours later, nothing.

I called UPS, provided the tracking number and the assistant informed me the package had the wrong address but they had corrected it. When she read the street name to me...it was still WRONG. My heart beat started a steady increase and continued like a drum hours. Eeek! We corrected the address and she said it would be re-delivered the next day. Um...not good enough. I arranged to pick up the parcel that night between 7 and 8 on my dinner break. No worries. True, I didn't have my ring - but at least I would be getting it later.

All day...my heart still pounding...I dreamt of my ring. I wondered what it would look like on my hand and if it would fit. 6:37pm. After the newscast I raced to Springfield (town next to Eugene) and presented my tracking number to the manager on duty in the pick up station. My package was not waiting at the front desk as it was supposed to be. (Drum beat picks up speed.) Tony - I now know the man by name - said not to worry. He'd find it.

I waited in the lobby. 5 minutes later I felt like I needed some fresh air...no sign of Tony so I moved outside. While standing by the lobby door, I witnessed Tony walking aimlessly around the yard peering into the back of parked UPS trucks. (I could feel a vein start pulsing on my temple.)

Finally he comes back and explains that the package is "probably" there but it has been put on a conveyor belt and is going to be hard to find. I somehow stay calm and agree to grab some dinner and come back. I barely make it to my car without fainting from anxiety. This is a diamond ring, people!

Using a lamas birthing technique, I breath in and out to try to bring my heart rate down. I'm so stressed that I actually buy Mexican fast food and stuff my face with a veggie burrito. Eeew.

I drive back and Tony explains that the package went out on a truck with a new driver that day. Following his shift he was supposed to deliver it to the front desk but he didn't. "So it is likely in a huge truck with the other packages that couldn't be delivered today and since we just changed our system today...the packages haven't been scanned in so we really don't know where it is."

Feeling faint, I sit down in the nearest chair. Okay. Breathe. He sees the color drain out of my face and says - "What's in the package?" I manage a smile and say "Well, it's my engagement ring. I've waited 29 years for this so I guess I can wait a bit longer."

Tony is a smart guy. He gets how important this is! He offers to find my package that night and deliver it to the news station at the end of his shift. Is that customer service or what!? As I drive back to the station in a daze, I pray that the package isn't lost.

I watch the clock like a hawk all night waiting to hear something, ANYTHING from Tony. He finally rings at 10:15 - they found it! It had fallen under one of the conveyor belts and the clean up crew found it. (This kind of thing only happens to me.) He said he'd be leaving at 10:35 and would try to get it for me before I began the live newscast at 10:59:00. The race was on again!

At 5 till 11, I began pacing in the front lobby and at 10:57:00 I see headlights in the parking lot. It's my hero: Tony! He races up to the door. I actually hug the man and start screaming! He waves, apologizes and I run in to open the box...slide the ring onto my hand and sit down on set with 30 seconds to spare.

The ring is lovely...an oval cut diamond in a 6 prong setting. My camera doesn't do it justice. It was worth the wait!

Spooledup

If this was a guy, the story would read more like this:

The ring didn't come when I expected it. I waited another couple of days and it showed up. Everything was fine and life went on.

Just goes to show you how important a rock is to a woman. Every married guy on here knows this already though.

Congrats on the engagement!

⌐ AV8OR WANNABE

Actually, many guys would hope the ring got lost a would then ask the shipping company to "supersize" them a new one!

OldAg84

My wife knew what she wanted, had it designed and crafted. She even paid for it herself!

Of course I was in graduate school and she was working full time as an attorney.