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| The original bracelet |
Gimmicky tourist souvenirs stuffed into suitcases filled to the brim with tee shirts and coffee mugs. I’m guilty of lugging some of that stuff home too. Who doesn’t have a metal Eiffel Tower on a shelf at home? I usually bring home a tee shirt, liquor, lot of pictures. If I’m lucky enough to find one, a small silver charm tucked away in a small pouch will find it’s way home with me.
When I was a young girl 8 or 10 I don’t really remember exactly, I was given a silver charm bracelet by my Aunt Sara. It had one charm on it already, a disk with a dogwood flower; it’sthe state flower of Georgia.
Soon after, the bracelet filled up with all sorts of wonderful travel souvenirs. My parents brought back a charm from all the cities from their European trip in 1972. A beer stein with a lid that opens, Turkish dancing shoes, and some Greek statues just some of many charms that filled my bracelet. During my dad’s business trips he rarely came back without a charm, Chicago, Texas and many other states.
I continued that tradition of collecting charms when I lived in Europe.. Three years and many cities later, I now have 4 bracelets of my own plus the two my mother gave me. It’s too much jingling to wear a bracelets, so now I turned them into a necklace that I wear on special occasions when I get it out the box.
I love that each charm can tell you a story. The wine cup from the Rhine River cruise I took with friends I had just met in Germany. The tri-trip hat I got in Williamsburg on a trip with my family. The Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco or the mountain cable car from Switzerland I got when my best friend came to visit.
Each little charm is part of my past. It really should be called a life story necklace. For me I will always have a charmed life.
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| The growing collection |
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| It’s now become a necklace |