This past weekend, we went to visit the kids' great-grandparents. All of ninety years old, they're in better shape than some seventy-year-olds. But don't tell them that; they will not believe you. One of the things we did during our visit, was go through my grandmother's jewelry. Some pieces were trendy, whereas other pieces were strikingly beautiful. Mel has no love for jewelry that is worn. She just appreciates its shine, its jingle, or even its history. And history is what her G-G has a lot of. So we heard all about some of the items: a ring her mother bought - after saving for its hefty price for so long - almost 100 years ago; a pair of earrings purchased for my great-grandmother, on the occasion of my grandmother's birth; and a charm bracelet to beat all charm bracelets. Each piece had a story, and meaning behind it. Mel soaked it all in. I remembered this bracelet, too. It has a working mini slot machine that I used to tink, tink, tink all the time. A gold bicycle with working wheels, and I'd ride it all along the tablecloth in front of my place at the table. My favorite piece was the mini U.S. Mailbox, and when you pulled open the top slot to "insert" a letter, you saw two extremely miniature red ruby hearts. So dear. Also, there was a regular old wheat-back penny, dated 1954, that was bound in a gold setting, and attached to the bracelet. I'd forgotten, but my grandmother reminded me that she volunteered for an organization long ago that helped developmentally challenged young adults. She spent many hours there, and the head of the organization, after lamenting that he could not pay her for her time, offered her that single penny as a token of his gratitude. It must have been an extremely special token, for her to have set it and attached it to this bracelet, upon which dangles a lifetime of memories.
It was a very special vist, with so much joy in remembering.
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