No one said anything about getting married BECAUSE I won a ring. We have talked about marriage a lot. No intimate relationship issues. He just doesn't see the difference of being committed and living together vs married.
And no I don't care if my engagement ring was something I won or he purchased. It is a free $2k ring I chose.
And with his mother - its her issue not his. She has serious attachment issues. She has been in a nursing home for a little over a year, bed bound 5 years prior. She and my bf always lived together because she got sick right at the end of his college career. She had issues just with me moving in with him.
He is trying to work through his hangups. When I get the ring I will give it him to put away with the understanding that if we break up its mine.
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
