5 ms·

I am a lady who had long disliked diamonds for these very reasons. They are not nearly as valuable as what you pay due to hoarding and such. My partner is aware

by marilyn 17y ago

I am a lady who had long disliked diamonds for these very reasons. They are not nearly as valuable as what you pay due to hoarding and such. My partner is aware that should the time come, I'd far prefer a natural pearl, than a diamond. Unless of course he can find a piece of genuine moissanite, one that actually came from space on a meteorite, that would be the coolest!

pavs 17y ago
Bravo! I hope to find a mate who doesn't like shiny things. On a related note, I find general obsessions over expensive jewelries a bit annoying. I rather have an expensive vacation with nice memories over an expensive piece of metal/mineral.
- patio11 17y ago
  Figure out how she can show the vacation off to her friends and you can kill two birds with one stone. ("You like it? Its obsidian -- we got in on this fabulous vacation in Honduras...")
  - electromagnetic 17y ago
    You'd be surprised, my wife barely mentioned she was getting to go on vacation to England and France and even her employer (owner of a dozen franchises and lives in a multi-million dollar home) said he was jealous. I've noticed a lot of people in north america are fascinated by Europe, you only really need to lay a hint and they'll do the work of making themselves jealous. Considering you can get to the Canary Islands for about $4k from Toronto, I don't really see how any woman would prefer a stone over that. 2 weeks at a beach in the Mediterranean where ocean temp is regularly 20C+, I believe today the ocean temperatures are ~13C for most of the European coast, in Turkey and Egypt I believe the oceans are still hitting almost 20C. I know for a fact my wife would prefer to go to Europe again over ever getting a diamond, in fact she told me a list of countries she'd prefer to visit over me buying her expensive jewellery.
    - elblanco 17y ago
      That's almost exactly what we ended up doing. A couple trips to Europe won out over diamonds in the end. And she feels vastly more cultured and informed now rather than lugging around some useless overpriced rock.
    - lutorm 17y ago
      Maybe this is because people in the US hardly have any vacation and are encouraged to work all the time, so the lack of time, more than the cost, means many never get to go on any long exploratory trips?
    - narag 17y ago
      I'm curious. What does it cost $4k? Plane tickets? A year ago I looked to apartments for rent there and the prices were about 30€ per day. BTW, Canary Islands are in the Atlantic Ocean in the Africa coast. Balear Islands (Ibiza, Mallorca, Menorca...) are in the Mediterranean.
      - electromagnetic 17y ago
        You're correct, I've been to both the Island groups and frequently mix up which are where. $4k from what I looked at was covering plane tickets ($1k a person for 2), and hotels can hit $1k for a couple and half-board typically only bumps this to $1.3k, and if you're planning on spending the day at the beach you don't need much more than drinking money and bottled water.
sanswork 17y ago
I got my ex(unrelated I assure you) a sapphire because it had meaning in relation to our birthdays and we both agreed not to buy diamonds. She loved it and our families thought it was great but we both had to deal with a lot of comments off strangers and friends about why I didn't buy a diamond. She was great about it but you could see a bit of disappointment in her whenever it was raised as she was just excited to have it and felt hurt that she had to explain why it wasn't a diamond. When they would ask me I'd list the reasons on the page and tell of why I picked the stone I did so it would only bother me when I saw her bothered. The point of this story? Even when its perfect for you and you couldn't be happier there are large portions of society and people you honestly never expect that will go about criticizing you for not following the norm and you need to be prepared to have that conversation a LOT like every time someone sees your ring a lot. That said I still wouldn't change it for the world though and I know neither would she and when your day comes I'm sure you won't either.
- philk 17y ago
  People will always be criticized for not following the norm. It's awesome, and an affirmation that you aren't part of the herd. Plus I'd just say "We preferred sapphires" and change the topic.
  - yummyfajitas 17y ago
    A good response: "Anyone who buys or accepts a mined diamond is implicitly supporting war and slavery in Africa. I'm against slavery. What about you?" (This does run the slight risk of alienating most of the women in the room, including some who cried during "Blood Diamond".)
    - philk 17y ago
      The problem here is that you're paying attention to their bullshit question. When you spend time justifying yourself it rewards the person for asking the question (because they're getting attention) and makes it look like you need to justify yourself. (Although I suppose after enough impromptu five minute speeches about blood diamonds people will learn to stop asking you about the ring :) )

by marilyn 17y ago

pavs 17y ago

Bravo! I hope to find a mate who doesn't like shiny things. On a related note, I find general obsessions over expensive jewelries a bit annoying. I rather have an expensive vacation with nice memories over an expensive piece of metal/mineral.

patio11 17y ago
Figure out how she can show the vacation off to her friends and you can kill two birds with one stone. ("You like it? Its obsidian -- we got in on this fabulous vacation in Honduras...")
- electromagnetic 17y ago
  You'd be surprised, my wife barely mentioned she was getting to go on vacation to England and France and even her employer (owner of a dozen franchises and lives in a multi-million dollar home) said he was jealous. I've noticed a lot of people in north america are fascinated by Europe, you only really need to lay a hint and they'll do the work of making themselves jealous. Considering you can get to the Canary Islands for about $4k from Toronto, I don't really see how any woman would prefer a stone over that. 2 weeks at a beach in the Mediterranean where ocean temp is regularly 20C+, I believe today the ocean temperatures are ~13C for most of the European coast, in Turkey and Egypt I believe the oceans are still hitting almost 20C. I know for a fact my wife would prefer to go to Europe again over ever getting a diamond, in fact she told me a list of countries she'd prefer to visit over me buying her expensive jewellery.
  - elblanco 17y ago
    That's almost exactly what we ended up doing. A couple trips to Europe won out over diamonds in the end. And she feels vastly more cultured and informed now rather than lugging around some useless overpriced rock.
  - lutorm 17y ago
    Maybe this is because people in the US hardly have any vacation and are encouraged to work all the time, so the lack of time, more than the cost, means many never get to go on any long exploratory trips?
  - narag 17y ago
    I'm curious. What does it cost $4k? Plane tickets? A year ago I looked to apartments for rent there and the prices were about 30€ per day. BTW, Canary Islands are in the Atlantic Ocean in the Africa coast. Balear Islands (Ibiza, Mallorca, Menorca...) are in the Mediterranean.
    - electromagnetic 17y ago
      You're correct, I've been to both the Island groups and frequently mix up which are where. $4k from what I looked at was covering plane tickets ($1k a person for 2), and hotels can hit $1k for a couple and half-board typically only bumps this to $1.3k, and if you're planning on spending the day at the beach you don't need much more than drinking money and bottled water.

sanswork 17y ago

I got my ex(unrelated I assure you) a sapphire because it had meaning in relation to our birthdays and we both agreed not to buy diamonds. She loved it and our families thought it was great but we both had to deal with a lot of comments off strangers and friends about why I didn't buy a diamond. She was great about it but you could see a bit of disappointment in her whenever it was raised as she was just excited to have it and felt hurt that she had to explain why it wasn't a diamond. When they would ask me I'd list the reasons on the page and tell of why I picked the stone I did so it would only bother me when I saw her bothered. The point of this story? Even when its perfect for you and you couldn't be happier there are large portions of society and people you honestly never expect that will go about criticizing you for not following the norm and you need to be prepared to have that conversation a LOT like every time someone sees your ring a lot. That said I still wouldn't change it for the world though and I know neither would she and when your day comes I'm sure you won't either.

philk 17y ago
People will always be criticized for not following the norm. It's awesome, and an affirmation that you aren't part of the herd. Plus I'd just say "We preferred sapphires" and change the topic.
- yummyfajitas 17y ago
  A good response: "Anyone who buys or accepts a mined diamond is implicitly supporting war and slavery in Africa. I'm against slavery. What about you?" (This does run the slight risk of alienating most of the women in the room, including some who cried during "Blood Diamond".)
  - philk 17y ago
    The problem here is that you're paying attention to their bullshit question. When you spend time justifying yourself it rewards the person for asking the question (because they're getting attention) and makes it look like you need to justify yourself. (Although I suppose after enough impromptu five minute speeches about blood diamonds people will learn to stop asking you about the ring :) )