Engagement Ring

If I can’t stop staring at my engagement ring, will I fare the same fate as Narcissus?

I feel I might be so drawn into the sparkles that now grace my left hand that I might fall into a pool never to come out again. It’s not quite as bad as staring in the mirror though, right?

Aren’t I rather staring at the expression of love? And not love of myself, and not even really the love of another person, but the love that comes from two people truly committing themselves to one another? It is the love that one only dreams of finding in all their lives, the love that is talked about, the love that eludes your life until it reveals itself. It is the love that can’t be known until you feel it. For this, I will fall into the pool.

And I have.

And for now that pool seems to be ice blue and sitting on my finger. But it merely teases me. It whispers in my ear and tells me to wake up from this dream, which is why I can’t stop looking at it. I am still pinching myself. I can’t believe I met him. I can’t believe he really exists. And I can’t believe it feels this good.

Narcissus was cursed to scorn the love people gave him and fall in love with himself instead. Isn’t this the plague of dating in our 20’s? If we just took the time to pull our own heads out of our own asses long enough, we might treat the people who love us a little better.

You live. You learn.

You find The One. You forget yourself.

You see yourself through your love’s eyes. You meet yourself for the first time.

When someone gives you this gift, of awakening your life, the world never looks the same. The colors change, the noises fade, the clocks ticks to a different schedule. You fall into a new pool. And I might just bathe in this pool for a while. Soak. Swim. Surf. Sip. Saturate for sixty-six years.

Go ahead. Take the plunge.