Ring Envy

After 2 long weeks, I finally fixed my computer! Do you know how impossible it is to attempt to blog from your phone?? Yeah...

If you don't know me that well, you may not know that I work in an industry that's around 75% female. So basically at any point in the office there is going to be more than one person on the floor who just got married, is engaged, just had a baby, or just found out they were going to have a baby. Honestly it can get a tad bit ridiculous, but I digress.

At the beginning of this week, one of my friends who also happens to be a co-worker, shared the exciting news that she had gotten engaged over the weekend. I for one, was extremely happy for her. I've known her for the majority of the time I've been working for my company and over the past couple years we've had more conversations than a little bit about the ups and downs of men and relationships.

She and her now fiance' met in an unconventional way and after a mere year of dating, he made the decision to put a ring on it. And not just any ring, but exactly the ring she wanted, one she spotted in a magazine a couple months ago. I'm no ring snob, but when you see this diamond, the quality definitely will make you stop and stare for a minute. However, the physical beauty of this ring has nothing to do with the "ring envy" I'm mentioning here. The type of envy I'm referring to comes simply from the act of getting a ring period. Big ring, small ring, three stone, or solitaire; I've noticed that just the sight of any engagement ring brings about a certain change in behavior amongst the single female population.

When a woman gets engaged, everyone congratulates her. There's often shrieking and hugs, and sometimes even tears. But you better believe some of those same women who are so excited(particularly the single ones), are giving their 'congrats' through gritted teeth. It's kind of like when you're in a competition and you lose, you may congratulate the winner but that doesn't mean it doesn't sting to know that it wasn't you who won. So, while she may be happy for her friend, the sight of that ring totally makes her realize just how single she actually still is.

And if the congratulator has a boyfriend who has yet to commit, forget about it. That boyfriend will definitely be getting put through the wringer the next time they speak; I feel sorry for the poor guy just thinking about it. It doesn't matter if they've been together 4 months or 4 years; all of a sudden there will be a need to talk about commitment and where the future of the relationship is headed. Men take this as a warning, if your girl comes home and all of a sudden wants to "talk" about such topics, ask her if somebody she knows just got engaged/married. She may be surprised by how seemingly intuitive you appear to be.

It's almost as if finding out a co-worker or friend is newly engaged sends single women into a mental frenzy. While we may not all openly discuss it, it definitely happens. It's almost like everytime someone else gets engaged, the ticking gets even louder on our biological clock.

*Tick-Tock*