Ring Ding. Ever heard
of it? Neither had I. I’m finding that
Louisiana has figured out a way to throw a party for any and every thing. Ring Ding is a tradition here whereby the
juniors in High School become Seniors.
It’s the day they are given and begin to officially wear their senior
rings. Apparently, it’s a thing. It’s a celebration. There will be toasts, cakes, punch, tears and
we will begin Arianna’s last year of high school full of the “lasts” of everything.
There’s an entire ceremony
dedicated to
this moment. They cross the stage as
Juniors and exit as Seniors with their new shiny rings. There’s even a committee dedicated to the
details of said ceremony. I know because
Arianna is on it. She wrote a skit, she’s
buying the t-shirt(not kidding, there’s really a t-shirt), she’s shopping for a
dress and I’ve signed up to bring a case of water and cake balls to the after
party.
The Jr. Class parentage has
rented out the Mardis Gras Museum to house the party that will commence once we
get our kids ring dinged up.
I don’t
know who will be happier – the kids who are approaching adulthood, or the
parents who are approaching freedom. I
said all that to say this. We’ve been
shopping for Arianna’s class ring.
Sounds like simple task but nothing is simple with a 16-year-old girl. (Even
one as perfect as mine). She didn’t want
a traditional class ring. She wanted a dinner ring that we could inscribe with
her High School and class year inside the band.
One that she could wear forever.
So…..what kind of stone do you get in a dinner/high school ring? Your birthstone of course. Arianna was born in June – Alexandrite. A beautiful stone of multiple glorious
colors. Rare and expensive. So rare and expensive, in fact, that we
couldn’t find a store that had any. “What
about mystic topaz,” I offered and begged Arianna to try some on. It looks kind of the same. “No go.
Hard Pass,” she said. Why oh why
couldn’t her birthstone be Cubic Zirconia?
There is plenty of that. Ahhh….the
rubies. My pale baby would look
delightful in a ruby. “No Mom,” she
panned as she side stepped her way down the jewelry case to the sapphires. “I want a sapphire. It’s blue….it’s Airline High School Blue,”
she concluded. I waved her back to the
rubies. She wouldn’t budge. Then there was a pink rose
colored stone that
I knew she would look fabulous in. She
tried it on briefly and went back to the sapphire section. Again I coaxed her to the rubies. “Just try it on…,” I pleaded. I’m her mom.
I know what looks good on my alabaster baby. But there she hovered over the dark blue
stones – fixated. “Let’s come back later,”
I said. I planned on getting her dad
behind me on this. How can she go around
the rest of her life in a sapphire when her skin tone clearly screams RUBY!! Could I, as her mother, let her make this
mistake and even bank roll it?? I had
become completely convinced of the grandeur of this Ring Ding Moment. Could I let her slip into adulthood with the
wrong ring? I argued my case into the
night…into the next day when I found myself on the front row at Bible
Study. My husband was reading from
Exodus when he caught my attention with this verse.
Exodus 24: 9-10: “Moses went up, also Aaron…and
seventy of the elders of Israel, and
they saw the God of Israel. And there was under His feet as it were a
paved work of sapphire stone, and it was like the very heavens in its
clarity.”
“What,” I thought to myself. “Did Rob just say sapphire?” What are the odds of us being on a book in
the Bible, on the very chapter, on the exact verse, where, of all things
described – the word ‘sapphire’ appears?? The elders of Israel were going to get to see
God Almighty. Can you imagine the
suspense? Moses led the way and all they
could record about this moment was the pavement where God rested his feet….sapphires. I feverishly dug deeper. Sapphires were also on the high priest’s
breastplate and God’s throne is described as a throne of sapphire….and did you
know some scholars believe the ten commandments were etched on cubes of
sapphire?
Later, on the drive home, I told Rob of the
grand connection I had made with the Bible Study as it related to our first
born and the tedious task of ring buying.
“Really,” he replied. “That’s all you got from my Bible Study?”
Yesterday we picked up Arianna’s class
ring. A sapphire. “Will I marry senior year? Yes I will,” she joked as she slipped it on
and off with pure, unfettered, joy. I
hope she loves it that much forever.
While she makes her own exodus from childhood, I pray she sees this ring
as a constant reminder of His Throne, His Commandments. When the fanfare of
senior year has come and gone and the realities of adulthood and college,
responsibilities and bills settle in all around her…I hope she looks at her
little ring and remembers to put herself there – on His sapphire pavement. At His feet. It’s the only posture in life that works.
Rubies.
Silly me. What was I thinking?