After dating for one year, a man named Terry gifted his girlfriend Anna with a handmade wooden necklace decorated with a shell. She wore it every day, no matter what she was doing, but it wasn’t until more than a year later that she realized what had been hiding inside the whole time.
According to the Independent, Terry crafted the unique piece of jewelry out of Tasmanian wood and gave it to Anna on their one-year anniversary in 2015. Then, the Australian couple spent another happy 18 months together. Eventually, Terry decided it was time to pop the question, and he took Anna on a romantic vacation to Scotland, where the pair had always wanted to visit a landmark called “Smoo Cave.”
Terry gave his girlfriend Anna a handmade necklace on their 1-year anniversary but did not reveal what was hidden inside until 18 months later.
“Since we first met, we had always talked about the many places we would love to travel, and ‘Smoo Cave’ in Scotland had been one on our bucket list,” explained Terry. “So we traveled to Durness, where the cave is. But before we actually went down to the cave, I asked if I could have the necklace to take some photos of it among the rocks, which gave me a quick chance to break the seal with a knife.”
Before gifting the necklace to Anna 18 months earlier, Terry, who wished for his surname to remain private, had hidden something very special inside — an engagement ring. Anna had worn the piece of jewelry every day since without ever realizing what it held.
“We wanted a nice photo so I set up my camera and tripod on a timer, and rushed in,” recalled Terry. “I took the necklace from my pocket, kneeled, broke it open and revealed that something was hidden inside the entire time. I had always loved the idea of giving someone a gift where they didn’t know its true value.”
In choosing the cave, the romantic was also lending the necklace an additional level of meaning, as Smoo Cave gets its name from an old Norse word for ‘hiding place.’
When Terry cracked open the necklace, he explained how a stunned Anna immediately said ‘yes,’ before adding: ‘But I could have lost it, you f***ing idiot!’
He quipped that her reaction was a mixture of ‘happy’ and ‘angry.’ [Source: Daily Mail]
“My biggest moment of panic was when we went through airport security the first time,” said Terry. “I hadn’t thought about the fact that she might be asked to put it through the X-Ray, which could have very quickly turned into an airport security proposal!”
Anna shows off the ring Terry hid in her necklace for 18 months.
