> > I know some women have big flashy rings that cost a whole bunch of money, but I wouldn't trade with them. As Wolf said, the rings are a symbol. When people see a ring on my finger, they know what it means. That ring could cost $40 or $4,000, but it still means that I'm committed to one person, and only one person, and I want the whole world to know it.
> >
> > Ell"Look at my sparkly ring, everyone!myruh
>
> That's the same way I feel about my engagement ring. When I showed my mother the ring all she could say was "That's so ugly" and "Look at how little he spent on you," which made me really, really mad. We picked out my ring *together,* and it is exactly what I wanted. And my mother was all worried about what other people would think about how much Darien spent on it.
>
> ~Mina "Yellow topaz and white gold for not all that much- and I love it" moon

Ideally, your mom should be glad that Darien didn't go deeply into debt in order to buy you a rock to put on your finger. But I suppose you could look at it this way: Maybe she just wants the very best for you. She wants you to have the big sparkly diamond, the triple-digit salary, the perfect mansion, etc. For that matter, she probably also pictured you marrying a very rich lawyer who looks like he stepped out of a fashion magazine. No, it's not realistic, and I'm quite sure you wouldn't be very happy with that life, but it's just a mom wanting the best for her kid. When things didn't quite fit her dream picture, she automatically thought that was a bad thing.

I'm not sure how I got off on a tangent, but I did. Just be glad that you and Darien don't have a huge credit card bill from a jewelry store. Being in debt does nothing but bad things to a relationship.

Ellmyruh