Real Life Romance: My Ring

Every now and then, someone remarks how much they like my engagement ring. Want to know a secret? I do, too.
Jeremy and I had been dating over two years when we started to realize we either needed to move on or get more serious. I think he may have realized he wanted a more permanent solution before I did. A girl always dreams, and I mentioned somewhere along the way that I didn't want a diamond ring. I wanted a pearl. After all, a pearl was made through irritation and pressure and came out beautiful in the end -- a symbol I considered to be a great one for marriage, something that didn't always flow along as smoothly as the fairy tales would have you believe.

​Of course, neither of us had a job at the time. Our job was to be college students. So, unbeknownst to me, Jeremy was driving back and forth to a nearby town each week to donate blood plasma to earn a little income he could save up and buy a ring. He literally gave his life's blood for me, you guys! He worked with a friend whose parents owned a pawn shop down in Alabama and together, they found my ring. But I still didn't know any of this.
It was spring semester my junior year, his senior. We were both stressed out by classes, trying to get things done. And the the uncertainty of our relationship with his pending graduation was getting to me. We ended up having an argument over something stupid--I honestly can't even remember exactly what it was about.
And then, not at all like I had imagined, he proposed. He figured the key cause of all the strife was the waiting to see if he would, so decided to end our argument, he'd go ahead and get that out of the way. I literally looked at him and asked, "Are you serious?"
It wasn't the romantic dinner and down-on-one-knee proposal every girl dreams of, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized he was right. And he made up for the lack of romance that evening a few nights later when he handed me the ring he had already ordered and just didn't have yet when he actually proposed. It was exactly what I wanted.
And I still love it ... and the man who picked it out. And every time I see it on my finger, I am reminded once again of all he/we went through to get this far. And how much love went into finding this perfect ring.

Do you have an unusual engagement story? Or a ring that isn't exactly like all the others out there? I would love to hear about it!