 We join our heroes, Nick and Sarah, as they go on a cross-country tour, something they’ve dreamed of for years. Mostly, they just want to see the country, but they plan to turn it into the search for the perfect engagement ring and wedding rings, as they plan to marry after the trip. When Nick first saw Sarah at a party in college, she was upside down with one hand on either side of a keg, doing a handstand. She was the Female Keg-Stand Champion, as it happened. This would have been unattractive to him if she got sloppy drunk like so many other girls at these dorm parties. She was poised, somehow, even after having a keg-tap hanging out of her mouth for 30 seconds. Maybe it was that she was able to maintain balance on her hands that long. Maybe it was the way she seemed to know everyone. He found out later that she was adept at handstands from years of yoga, and she didn’t know everyone so much as everyone knew her. She was surprised that night when he asked her to go to a Red Sox game with him. She was dying to go, but it was hard to get tickets, and how did he know she was a baseball fan, anyway? When she asked him that, a few months later, he smiled and said: “I couldn’t date anyone who isn’t”. Both raised on baseball, Nick and Sarah were excited to start their tour at the College World Series, which had been held in Omaha, NE since 1950. Arriving on Interstate 80 from Des Moines, Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium was so close they could see the lights on the field as they neared the city. Sarah paraphrased from a booklet she had gotten about the city: “Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium, 1202 Bert Murphy Ave, Omaha, Nebraska, 68107. It is the largest non-Major League Baseball stadium in professional baseball, capacity 25,500. Home of the Omaha Royals, AAA-affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. Since 1950, it has hosted the College World Series. On June 10, the NCAA and CWS of Omaha, Inc. signed an agreement to keep the Series in Omaha through 2035, beginning in 2011, when they will move into a new stadium”. She put the booklet down and looked out the window. “They’re going to build the new stadium next to the Qwest Center. ‘68102’ has a sexier ring to it, I guess”. Nick and Sarah were both baseball purists, preferring old stadiums and detesting the Designated Hitter. Nick turned into the parking lot at they got out to watch the first of the three-game series. About three beers into the game, he was as happy as he had ever been. The game was so much better, of course, than it ever looked on television. And he knew he had the coolest girl in the world with him. He was grinning and staring at her until she looked back at him, smacked him playfully on the leg and said: “Another beer, Romeo?” as stood up. She was the only girl he ever knew who liked baseball as much as he did. She was also the only girl who didn’t make fun of him for his interest in jewelry. Usually. They hatched the idea for their cross-country trip and search for the perfect rings when, during their senior year, Sarah began dropping hints about wanting diamond earrings for her birthday. Nick confessed to her that he knew nothing about jewelry, and he needed guidance. When they began to talk about getting married, they decided on the perfect way to fulfill a lifelong dream of seeing the country, and find the rings of their dreams along the way. It was a summer and fall of pre-engagement fun. They were also anxious to go hunting for adventure, to see new things, meet new people, and sample the Microbrews that were in every small town these days. They had, in fact, discussed opening a Microbrewery at one time, but discarded the idea for fear of alcoholism.
At the College World Series, they learned from season ticket holders that several jewelers in the area catered to the sports-lovers by creating baseball-related custom-made diamond pendants and diamond rings in their Omaha, Nebraska locations. Also, that several Major League Baseball players had jewellery designed in Omaha. Perspective Jewelry had become the officially-licensed manufacturer of all jewelry for the Creighton Bluejays of Creighton University and made diamond pendants in the shape of baseballs with the team’s logo or a player’s jersey number on them. The same jeweler also made custom-designed diamond rings, from whimsical sports-related pieces to high-end engagement rings. Omaha, Nebraska, it seemed, had developed into something of a hub for custom-designed jewelry in the Midwest. Without leaving the 68101 or 68102 zip codes, Nick and Sarah could watch great baseball, get drunk, and look at designer diamond jewelry. At the game, giddy from baseball and beer, they created the personalities they would use at the jewelry store. The next morning, Sarah put on a simple black dress and pulled her hair back tight, trying to look severe. Nick put on khaki pants and a slightly-rumpled button-down shirt. He would be the wealthy trust-fund guy who cheated on her, and she would be the angry girlfriend, demanding jewelry in exchange for forgiveness. She would ask to look at their most expensive pieces, asking endless questions about each one, and he would stand there, looking hopeful and offering to get her anything she wanted. In the end, they would fight and she would storm out yelling that he doesn’t have enough money to buy her love. The trick was making it to the car without laughing. The next trick was repeating this twice and still making it out of Omaha, Nebraska alive.
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