walking on the levy

I took some pictures the last weekend on the levy

1-my apartment
2-the levy
3-a boat on the Mississippi
4,5 & 6-some flowers along the levy

Leap Day can’t come soon enough.

Greeting bloggers. Yes Rachel and I are engaged. Ironically tomorrow is Valentines Day and we are going to be 18 hours a part like we are on most days. Well we weren’t on Ground hogs day. That’s the day I asked her to marry me. The next time we will see each other is the 29th, Leap day. You know I heard somewhere the leap day is the one day when it is kosher for a woman to propose to a man. I guess I’m glad I got to beat Rachel to the punch.

I wanted to share a bit about the engagement ring. The diamond was the original diamond in my Great Grandmother’s Engagement ring. My great Grandma Jenny. She was born Jane Hockaday and Became Jane Bennett when she married my Great Grandpa Leonard Bennett in 1921. They had two daughters, my Aunt Laraine and my Grandma Marybelle who later became Marybelle Chapman when she married my Grandpa Harold “Chappie” Chapman. Grandma Jenny and Grandpa Leonard were married for 61 years from July of 21 until December of 82 when Grandpa Leonard passed away. My brother Jon was 9 months old at the time, but I was four. I have vivid memories of both Grandma Jenny and Grandpa Leonard. Specifically I remember being at their 60th Wedding anniversary party the summer I turned three. I also remember opening Christmas presents on Grandpa Leonard’s lap very soon before he passed away. Grandma Jenny lived another 9 more years and passed away in 1991.

Fast-forward many years to early January of 2008. The LSU tigers had just beaten the Ohio State Buckeyes in the national championship. The next morning I had received a phone call from my Aunt Robyn (That’s Grandma Marybelle’s daughter). Both Robyn and her husband Ted are Ohio State fans so I thought that was what she was calling about. She had got wind of the fact that I had been thinking about asking Rachel to marry me. So she asked, “David would you like Grandma Jenny’s engagement ring”. My jaw hit the floor, “Yes!” I said “Absolutely, I am bit overwhelmed right now … in a good way”.

Because my Aunt is in Ohio she had it sent through secure mail. I was on campus during the day, so I had it sent to my friend’s Nick and Laura LiBassi. A rainy Friday afternoon Laura called to let me know it had arrived. I was just so excited. I bolted over there as soon as I could. The diamond was the original diamond as well as the setting, which was in platinum. While the ring itself was made of yellow gold and set sometime later. Laura said, “Dave the diamond and setting are so beautiful. Rachel is going to love it”. That was good to hear.

The ring was bigger then Rachel’s finger. I knew she liked white gold, but the question was when and how to reset it. I had called some places up in the Indiana area to see if there was a place Rachel and I could go together to set the ring after I proposed, but nothing seemed to be panning out. I was praying, “Lord I just want to give her the best ring possible”. Thursday January the 31st I went over to a jeweler down here in Baton Rouge named Robert Roth. That was the day before I left for Indiana to see Rachel. He said he could have the ring in it’s original setting set in white gold and to me by 4 PM that day. Wow! After class I was driving across town (again the rain) so excited to see the ring. Once I had it in hand I went out to my car and sat there looking at it. I was on the verge of tears. It was so beautiful. There couldn’t be a better ring in the whole world to give to this incredible woman.

I had thought that my Aunt Laraine would have received the ring after Grandma died. It turned out Grandma Marybelle did. She later gave it to Aunt Robyn. Last month Aunt Robyn gave it to me and at the being of this month I gave it to Rachel.

I’ve got some photos. The first is a picture of me sitting on Grandma Jenny’s lap back in the summer of 85. I would have been 7. The second is a picture of Grandma Jenny holding some flowers. The picture was from April of 76 which was a month before my parents were married. The next is a picture from last October of Rachel with my Grandma Marybelle and the last picture is of Rachel with my Aunt Robyn. Yes my Aunt is black. She was adopted.


Both Aunt Robyn and Grandma Marybelle are so excited that Rachel is wearing Grandma’s diamond.

And I am too.