I am going to be spending the month of October doing a project I’ve been meaning to do for a while now. It is called 31 Things and it is offered as an online class by Ali Edwards. Last year I did the One Little Word class with her where each month she gave us a project to do based around our word of the year. It was very interesting to try to bring my word (which was Believe) into my life in different ways.
31 Things is similar but this time she gives us a different prompt each day for 31 days and we are to explore those in depth. She suggests making an album which of course I am going to do but it is going to be slightly different than the one she suggests, which is a 12 x 12 album with two words on each page. I’m using a smaller journal type book and putting a picture on one page and doing some writing on the other. For each word she will give us questions to think about in relation to that word. I’m hoping to be able to post each day here too.
The first word is “Jewelry” and here are my thoughts on that: Always silver, white gold or platinum. I think the diamonds sparkle more in those settings. Even if there are no diamonds, I still like the silver shine.
The most important piece of jewelry to me is my wedding ring. I clearly remember the day my husband proposed. He didn’t have a ring to put on my finger because he knew that it would be something I would wear every day and he wanted me to like it. We went shopping together and I chose the ring I did because when you look at it from the side, to me it looks like a castle on top of a winding hill.
When we had been married about 10 years, I thought it might be nice to have an anniversary band to go with the wedding ring so we got this one:
I don’t have a picture of them together, but even though the stones are of a different cut, they stacked well and I wore them every day for another 20 years. In 2015 I happened to look down at the palm of my hand and noticed that the rings looked funny. I had trouble taking them off and when I did, this is what I saw:
I have no idea how that happened. My hand itself was not injured. Obviously I had to take the rings to a jeweler to have them repaired. First time I would be without my rings in 30+ years! My hand felt naked.
I wore this ring so I wouldn’t notice the empty space as much.
It seemed to take forever for them to get the rings back to me and the anniversary ring was never quite the same as the stones could not be put back into the proper alignment. It bothered me to wear it and since we were now at 30+ years of marriage my husband said I could pick out something different. I got a ring wrap or enhancer and my wedding set fit nicely inside it. This is what it looks like now:
I’m expecting it to last another 30 years as the back is soldered together to make it stronger.
Another piece of jewelry I wear quite a bit is this locket. In it I add a quote or saying for my word of the year. The picture is from last year when my word was “Believe.” This year is “Create” and the saying is “Create the life you want to live.” I am really trying hard to do that, little by little. When I have the necklace on, it seems to strengthen my resolve.
This silver ring is probably the other piece I wear most often. It came with a bag of marbles and I can change it up to match whatever I’m wearing. So versatile and definitely a conversation piece. I get a lot of comments on it since it is pretty large. People are amazed when I pop out the marble. Some of the marbles change color depending on how the light hits them.
Since I work from home, I don’t generally get all dressed up with a lot of jewelry but in addition to my wedding ring, every day I wear a necklace and some bracelets. It is kind of a tradition that every year at Christmas I pick out a little bauble that I like and give a picture of it to my husband and that’s what he gets for me. They are usually not extremely expensive but most of the time it has a special meaning like the Journey necklace which symbolizes the way the journey of love goes (starts out small and keeps growing),
I switch the necklaces out every few months, but I always have one on.
My constant bracelets are an “Open Hearts” charm, an aquamarine stone bracelet and a bracelet our daughter gave me one year that I was supposed to add charms to. I have the charms but never added them. Maybe that’s something I’ll do this year.
One more story about rings…When I was 4 or 5 I had my tonsils taken out and it required an overnight stay in the hospital. Even though I was not a baby, I remember being put in a crib-like bed. When my mom was there with me I remember her putting her hand through the slats in the side and I played with her wedding ring. Fast forward to about six or seven years ago, after my dad had passed away, my mom was distributing things to us girls. She gave me her wedding set. I wore it on my right hand and noticed that the band had cracked a bit. Instead of taking it off right away and putting it in a safe place, I wore it one more time. I don’t remember feeling it fall off but when I went to bed that night I noticed it was not on my finger. I was so upset. I didn’t know how to tell my mother. She and my dad had celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary shortly before he died. My mom was so calm about it. I was crying as I told her and she just said, “Don’t worry honey. It’s just a thing. I gave it up when I gave it to you and I still have the memories of your dad and I. I don’t need the ring to remember him.” I still feel bad and pray sometimes to St. Anthony, the patron saint of lost things, to help me find it.
So, there is a pretty in depth coverage of my relationship with jewelry. Got any jewelry stories to tell me? Love to hear them!
from Blogger http://asmile4ufromjanet.blogspot.com/2018/10/observations-in-october-2018-jewelry.html
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About scr4pl80
I'm a 60-ish, married, mom to 3, creative soul looking to make the world a better place one smile at a time.
Janet's Smiles 
Ah, Janet – you’ve found an excellent challenge for you! Lovely post about the jewelry that holds a special place in your life – your rings are beautiful!
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What a beautiful post, Janet. Your mom sounds like a very special woman.
I look forward to reading more in this series.
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Thanks! She is pretty special. At 95, I’m lucky to still have her around.
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I loved reading your post about your wedding bands. Mine have gone through a similar evolution over the years. I have a sad story about my mom’s wedding band too – one night we got home from visiting friends and noticed our patio door was open. We had been robbed! The thieves took 2 things – our TV and my jewelry box, which contained my mom and grandmom’s jewelry. I was heartsick. I hope you find your mom’s band!
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Thanks Laurie. The night I was wearing it I went to the hospital to see my brother-in-law who had been taken to the emergency room. I have a feeling it fell off there. I went back the next day to retrace my steps but couldn’t find it. I think the evolution of the wedding bands is a testament to our relationship staying power! Thanks for stopping by and for adding me to the blogs you follow!
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Maybe someone at the hospital will find it. I can well imagine you were very sad to lose it. Yes. My hubby and I have been married for 40 years. Thank you too!
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Your rings are beautiful. I love how all of your pieces have a special meaning to you. I don’t wear jewelry often (only my wedding rings when my hands aren’t flaring and too swollen) and a necklace and earrings my husband gave me when I’m “dressed to go out.” I’m sure it was upsetting to have your Mother’s ring disappear–hopefully, the person who found it will be blessed with a love affair like your parents. Now that I’m pretty much back at reading and posting again, I’m looking forward to your posts in this series. Take care!
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Nice to see you again, Dawn. What a good thought about my lost ring! I was just thinking that whoever found it would try to sell it. I like your idea better!
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Oh my goodness! That ring wrap really accentuates your marital collection! So pretty! I still can’t get over the warping.
I’m just about opposite you, I prefer yellow gold, rarely wear white gold, never silver. My daughters love silver and this allows me to indulge in buying pretty silver things! š
One of my wedding rings is white gold and the other is platinum — I really should have the stones taken out and set in gold, maybe a necklace. Or maybe I’ll save them for the girls. The older I get, the worse my hands and I don’t wear my wedding ring much anymore, but I have the empty space, just like you! Haha! In fact, I went through a bad flare and didn’t wear it for almost a year and couldn’t believe I still had a dent!
I’m so sorry about the ring you lost. I lost a precious one, too. I lost it when I lived at home. I, too, prayed to St Anthony and then I hoped when my parents moved, they’d find it, but no. It is gone forever.
Now that the weather is cooler, I will wear more necklaces. In the heat, I swear a tiny chain feels like a lead collar to me.
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I mentioned something to my husband about getting the stones reset when they were mutilated and he actually got a little hurt so I quickly dropped that idea. The rings mean a lot to him too and that is nice. It is interesting that jewelry means so many different things to different people.
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Oh we do not want him saddened. Good thinking.
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How sad that you no longer have your mother’s ring but she was very thoughtful, kind, and correct in her response. I take my wedding ring off at night and sometimes I forget to put it back on… until I realize how naked my hand feels.
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I felt so bad because it was such a special thing, both for her and for me!
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Wonderful hearing about your special jewelry. The marble ring is very unique. I’ve never seen anything like it! I have a lot of non expensive jewelry, but don’t wear it as much as I used to, because we hardly ever go anywhere. But I do wear a different necklace when we do, and my grand-daughter loves my jewelry of necklaces & bracelets, which I’ll wear just for her to play with.
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Yes, jewelry is so fascinating for kids isn’t it?
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