Hi Jonathan and Christen,

Well, I'm engaged! Its been a few weeks since I got the ring, sorry for the delay. Just wanted to drop a line to say THANK YOU for all your help in making this happen. The ring is a beautiful thing, and DeeDee loves it. She actually cried from happiness for what she says was the first time in her life when I gave it to her. She's had compliments like, "He actually chose that HIMSELF, without any help from you?". And her best friend said, "That's my ring... its perfect! Its the ring I want when I get engaged."

So, in all, a success! We couldn't be happier. Although I've made an effort to spare her the technical details underlying the cut of the stone and so on, I think she's starting to understand quality a little. She told me she likes driving with it, since it catches sunlight and lights up like a disco ball with a lot of little white refraction spots all over the inside of the car. I have to try and not stare at it too much. I find the 'friggin lasers' coming off of it all the time very satisfying.

I'd like to compliment you once again for your educational approach. We've actually stopped by a few jewelry stores in malls and so on since getting the ring and were a bit surprised by our encounters with sales people. We've had folks get instantly angry when I tell them how we acquired the ring. One seemed very eager to convince us that we've made a serious mistake by purchasing the stone remotely, with the implication being that she'd be doing us a favor by getting us to return the ring (and buying from them instead). When questioned about what standards one should use to judge a stone (and a jeweler), and after giving some information about our diamond, we were actually told, "All that information doesn't mean sh*t". Nice.

My point is, I think it would be really easy for folks to be made to feel very uncomfortable about the purchase of a diamond if one wasn't armed with a lot of information about what they're getting. I'm grateful that I have all the information that I do on our diamond, and I'm grateful that I went with jewelers such as yourselves with an outstanding reputation. The whole process was a lot of fun. I'll actually be looking for an excuse to but another diamond in the future; GOG will be the first place I look!

So thanks again for the help and all the personal attention! I don't have a good picture of us in e-form to send you yet, but I'll forward one when I do.

Have a happy day,