The Bracelet

Hmm, my title sounds a bit like a Nicholas Sparks novel, doesn't it?  I digress.  This photo was taken when my daughter requested a picture of my bracelet to use on her blog.    I hadn't paid too much attention to this piece of jewelry in a long time as I now have a much smaller one with rememberances of my children and grandchildren on it.  It doesn't make nearly as much noise in church.  This bracelet has much more history to it, however.

I was given the bracelet on my 16th birthday by my boyfriend, now husband.  I won't even pretend to tell you how long ago that was just suffice it to say it  has been a while.  One of my charms is a replica of the Hemisfair Tower commemorating Hemisfair '68 in San Antonio.

In the center of the bracelet, there is a round charm that says Happy Birthday -- this is the charm that he put on the bracelet to give to me that birthday.  I have been collecting charms ever since and from all sorts of places.

My husband has traveled a great deal in his career and he has brought me all sorts of souvenirs, many of them charms.  I have one from Louisiana, New Jersey, Illinois, Texas and Canada.  I have a tatting shuttle to remind me of my Aunt Bernice, a thimble because I sew, a quilt square because I quilt, a piano because I used to play the piano.  I have a Disney "Figaro" which is sort of a joke between the Hubs and me, a ballet shoe because I used to dance. There are various happy birthday and I love you charms but I guess the most unusual is the grocery cart.  My husband used to work at a grocery store in San Antonio by the name of HEB.  While surfing around Ebay one evening my daughter found this charm that was made by James Avery as a promotion for the store.  I snatched that one up right away -- they are not easy come by and I figured I might not find another.  My daughter bought me an airplane to remind me of my first flight -- a long haul to the UK, no less -- I don't believe in starting small!  Of course, I had to pick up a replica of the crown jewels in the UK.  My favorite, aside from the first ever to be put on the bracelet, is the one that says "Best Mom". 

I will probably always collect charms -- it was sort of a rite of passage of a teen in the 50's and 60's and I find the bracelets so charming.  When I see them in the antique stores I often wonder about the person they belonged to and how their memories are so much like every other girl of that era.  I have tried to continue the tradition of charm bracelets with my daughter and daughter-in-law but they are on their own with it now -- they have their own memories to add and I hope they will continue it with their own daughters.