I don’t own a single good piece of jewellery. Not one. In fact at the moment the only jewellery I can find at all are the great big (£2.99) hoops I live in, the blingy ring I bought when I sold my engagement ring, and the vintage necklace with the little girls face on that is my pride and joy….
I buy bracelets and promptly lose them. I weigh down my neck with rows and rows of old and new strings of beads and the day after the jewellery fairy comes and steals them for herself. (The little minx). Rings slip right off my fingers, never to be seen again, and sorrowful orphaned earrings give up the ghost and tuck themselves down the back of the sofa forever after…
In my world pretty things just disappear, which is a shame because nothing has provenance like jewellery. Tiny trinkets of the past dull with all our yesterdays. Memories wrapped in silver plate and hope frozen in a band of gold…
So thank goodness for my Mum. Thinking the very same thoughts she turned her house upside down in search of every trinket she has has ever squandered her hard earned pennies on. Turning over every nook and crannie in search of lost earrings and abandoned bracelets. Every set of beads Helen and I have ever left behind, childhood hairslides, teeny tiny rings and watches no longer working but resplendent with history…
And there it all was. A tangle of memories and jadeite. More diamante than you could shake a stick at and tiny pieces of nothing that had the years vanishing before my eyes…
The silver chain watch with the blue face that is all I remember about her arms as a child. The carved bakelite green and amber beads that were the first piece of vintage anything I ever bought. The tiny signet ring her Dad bought her as a child. The aluminium pendant Helen had carved the immortal words "I Love Parents" (all parents apparently!) on to in metalwork class…
All our yesterdays in a box. Precious moments remembering them with her.
Try it. Root down the back of your sofa. In every nonsense drawer you own. In all your old handbags. Re-unite earrings. Find strings of beads lost forever. Wrap a little bit of your mum around your wrist. Take childhood rings and thread them onto ribbon to wear around your neck.
Honour these tiny bits of momentary glamour. Be who you were when you wore them.
Smile. Cry. And remember…
yes, there is always a load of stuff to find when you go couch-fishing,
hee-hee.
Your post brought tears to my eyes. You are so right–wear it and remember.
That was so sweet of your Mum. I am forever losing things too. My husband gave me a lovely old rose gold watch for my birthday and do you think I can find it? You have made me want to go and find it. Thank you.
Hi, I know what you mean about missing jewellery! You can never find it when you want it! Love your site, I have just begun one too, if you click you can see my very messy deco style dressing table-complete with jewellery!
Hope people visit me too one day!!
It is so funny My sister and I have passed some of our old stuff down to my niece. It so brings back memories. I still have a cabodle with all of my jewelry as a kid or most of it and it is so fun to look through it, it just brings back the best memories!
You have inspired me! I am own my own treasure hunt today looking for long lost treasure…
Delightful, Alison!
ok back to the computer i am getting withdrawl symptoms now hope all is well
Hi,
that must have been some treasure hunt !!! I would love to see some things again that I have lost through the years. Some things can't be traced back though, as they where lost in moves from one house to the other, that's a shame, but some of the jewelry owned by my mom, she gave to me and I'm very proud of that !!!