I would be remiss

if I went down the left side of downtown Chestnut Street without mentioning Hanke's Jewelry and Fine Gifts. Harold Hanke would positively beam when there was a Bullock wedding!

My Grandmother Nelle Weber Morehead (Mom's Mom) had a penchant for big gaudy jewelry. Maybe because she was a short kinda dumpy (there, I said it - it's okay because she's been gone for 40 years now). She had a ring with four .75 carot diamonds on it - I hear it was might ugly. But I don't remember it.

When Gramma (that's what we called her) passed away Mom put the diamonds from her ring in the lock box for her four daughters, for each of our 21st bdays. Susi of course got hers first - she designed her ring like a cocktail ring. I don't even know what Cindo's looks like?!?

I got mine when I was a junior at ISU. I spent the summer prior searching for just the right design. Suddently - there is was on the front of Cosmo Magazine - my fave read of the summer. I was sure it would make me look just like that sexy model. No, not really, but it was a really great diamond ring that didn't look like an engagement ring.

So Mom sent me to Hanke's to see if they could copy the design. They could, with two platimum wedding bands and a setting. Yee ha. So right before my big bday I headed home to get one of the best presents of my life - my ring from my grandparents, and my parents who sprang for the setting of course. I can't tell you how many comments the ring has gotten through the years. It's not a huge diamond by today's standards - but it looks larger thanks to the setting. I never take it off.

When Pablo the Poolboy and I got married we registered at Hanke's - that was before the days when happy couples got to wander around Target, Home Depot, Target, Bed Bath and Beyond with a scanning gun. So we signed up for stuff like eight full place settings of china, sterling silver (wish I'd never gotten the damn stuff - it tarnishes!), and juice glasses. The week of the wedding the Hankes van could have gotten frequent flyer miles trotting back and forth from the store to 202 Crombie.

Same story different verse when Betso and Doctor Wayne got married. Only she got the very last of the four diamonds - it had a couple flaws, but oh well...and her ring is like mine but gold. Hankes scored big on that wedding too.