Twenty Five Years

May 2nd Martha and I celebrated our 25th Wedding Anniversary. Yes, 25 years! The number is still sinking in. For the celebration I had an elegant Black Cab, London Taxi service pick us up and take us to HUSK, Sean Brock’s award winning new restaurant here in Charleston. It was a perfect evening together. The food was truly amazing and my wife of…hmmm twenty five years….more beautiful and wonderful than ever. I really mean that. She is more beautiful today than the day we met…and much wiser. I  thank God we met when she was only 18.  It was the only shot I had. She says we were made for each other. I believe it.

Ok, yes I am a hopeless romantic. I remember as a young child wanting to be married. I remember playing house with a girl down the street when I was just five. I remember my first “real” girlfriend, Donna, with here big blue eyes…when I was in 1st grade. I remember going steady with girls in Middle School and being way TOO serious in High School. I remember the college years as a beer soaked blur of frat parties and several intense, and shall we just say, complicated relationships that were a blast while they lasted. I was in love with every one, at least, that is what I thought. I was always looking for…the one.

Then in January of 1983 I went to my last frat party at my fraternity house at the University Of Georgia. I was one of the “old guys” in the fraternity by then and was ready to move on with my life. I went through the front door of the house, something I had never done. The house was rocking, wall to wall with gorgeous girls. It was packed. I remember thinking, I really didn’t belong here anymore. But as I turned around after shutting that big front door I looked up the long, broad, antebellum staircase of the house and my eyes fell upon the most beautiful angel I had ever seen. She looked straight at me and our eyes locked…that was it. Love at first sight. It was Martha. We spent the next half hour trying to get close enough through the crowd to meet and when we finally did…well, we both felt the entire world spinning only around us.

When I look down at my wedding band, I don’t just see a 14k Gold, 6mm, milgrain wedding ring…size 10. I see that very night we met. I see our five year courtship. I see our glorious wedding day. I see the birth of our four great kids Palmer, Hamp, Sissy and Leland. I see us starting and running our jewelry store together. I see her encouraging me to pursue Freshley Media way back in 1993. I see two lives bound into one. I see my lover, my best friend and my soul mate. I see the most precious gift God ever gave me…my wife.

So why do I share all of this with you? Because this my friends is the essence of it all.This is why we are all still in the jewelry business isn’t it?  This is why I am in love with diamonds and all that we do. It’s not about color, cut clarity and carat weight…it’s about passion, commitment, fidelity and trust. You are not just a retailer. You are a jeweler. You are a merchant of hopes and dreams. You are an integral part most important pursuit of mankind…deep abiding, true love.

As Americans, the diamond engagement ring is one of our most deeply significant cultural imperatives. Like graduations and summer vacations, like getting your first car or owning your own home,  diamond engagement and wedding rings are an essential part of our culture. They are the very symbols of ” happily ever after”.  You simply don’t get married without them. Not to be too political, but it doesn’t “take a village”. It takes a jeweler and a preacher to start and raise a family. They both also happen be the key to one lasting 25 years.

Believe me, whether they admit it or not, everyone who comes in your store is looking for “happily ever after”. They are either in it or looking for it. They want a relationship with a jeweler who WANTS a relationship with them…who really listens and really cares. Don’t focus on the noise and the competition. Focus on your customers and the people they love. That is your job…and it’s the best job in the world.