Promise Rings-Outdated?

1990
Small town America

My mom took me to the mall, just the two of us girls. 
We walked through Mervyn's dept store and picked out a dress with a  flouncey ruffle at the waist.  

It was a busy floral print with big purple and pink flowers. 

Our daughter wouldn't be caught dead in it.
But like I said,  1990, so it was "in".

Mom and I went next to the shoe dept where we bought my first pair of heels.

Standing in front of the tiny bathroom mirror in my fancy new dress,  I curled my hair and put on the little bit of makeup that my grandma had given me for my birthday the weekend before. 

My Daddy rang the front doorbell of our house,  just like a real date.
He was in his suit jacket and had flowers in his hand.
We went to the nicestest restaurant in town, 

and between dinner and dessert he presented me with a promise ring.

That was 29yrs ago.

As our daughter got closer to her 13th birthday we started talking about the idea of getting her a promise ring.

However,  in a day and age when 13 is the new 20, we felt like maybe it wasn't as relevant.
The promise I made to my daddy, to
"save myself for marriage"
didn't quite take it far enough for today.

In a time when children have cell phones and are internet sensations because of their
"Identities",
we wanted to take it a little further.

I did her hair,  painted her fingernails and helped her pick out a cute dress and made them pose for a quick picture before they left.

Then her daddy took over.  

These two share a love of old coins.

They went downtown and perused musty storefronts and indulged the storekeepers as they listened to stories of how they came to own this or that. 

Next up was the mall,  where they enjoyed the other thing these two have in common a love of clothes and shoes.  

She got a cute new outfit complete with new Converse which is totally her style.  

Then they went to Olive Garden.  

Our girl isn't super comfortable with public displays of any kind.   

When she saw her daddy reach for his Bible to bring in to the restaurant with them she got nervous. 

"You're going to take the Bible in with us?" 

He wasn't sure why she was so hesitant, 

"Well, yeah,  I was thinking I would."

She had other ideas,  "You know we could just have our talk out here in the car,  and then read off your Bible app in the restaurant," then to soften the blow,  "maybe, I mean,  if you want. "

They read a few verses about where real beauty comes from, which made our 

"tom-boy" very happy.  

During lunch they talked about the

promise that they were making to each other. 

A promise from her daddy that he would protect her, love her and be always available to hear her heart.  

And a promise from her that she would come to him, when her feelings went from like to "more than like".

There was no timeline put on this promise. 

There was no line drawn that would break the promise if it was stepped over.  

This ring is a tangible,  

wearable reminder that she is loved and that her heart is safe here.