{Thirty One Things~Jewelry}

I am a huge fan of Ali Edwards. I have followed her blog for years, done Week in the Life, December Daily Albums, etc. I haven't ever taken one of her classes though. When I saw her 31 Things class start up, I thought it looked like something I might want to do. It's a project focusing on telling 31 stories. I signed up at Big Picture Classes. (There's still time to sign up if you are interested in telling 31 stories about your life.) Ali sends us a prompt everyday and then we write about it. Now, MAY is the WORST time for me to begin anything new---but, I just decided TO DO IT! It started today. I was totally shocked when I saw the topic---JEWELRY. My immediate thought was, "You've GOT to be kidding me!" But, I thought on it off and on during the day and sat down for a few minutes between school and an evening event I had and wrote the majority of this post. Eventually, I will take these posts and put them into a scrapbook album--but that is NOT going to happen this month---life is too crazy for me to have time for that, so I will post them here and cross my fingers to get them in a book before school starts up again in August.

SO, below is my post on jewelry! I'm heading to Busch Gardens with my students tomorrow for our annual music competition! It's always a fun weekend---but, I doubt I'll have a chance to post anything tomorrow---I'm not going to be uptight about that---this is MY project. I can take 40 days to do it and no one will slap my hand! I hope you enjoy it--thanks for peeking in!

Jewelry~

What? I’m writing about jewelry? I let myself ponder this topic at various times during the day and I found that I probably have more to say about this than anyone would ever care to know! I don’t wear much jewelry. Oh, my---I used to! In the 80’s and 90’s I was an accessory QUEEN!!! I think some of that was because of the times we were living in---but some of it was because life was slower for me during those years. I had time to shop for accessories; I had time to look for just the right pair of earrings; I had money to burn, I guess. Not so much now. Children came along. David went back to school. Private school came along; part-time work came along; soccer and drama and another baby came along and I was just happy to get the basics on. That’s where I live today jewelry-wise. I live in the watch? check!  rings? check!  earrings? check! Necklace? check! LET’S GOOOOO!

My mom has a lot of jewelry---a lot of FINE jewelry. For years my father ALWAYS got her jewelry as gifts. Then, my Junior year in High School we were robbed and he decided he wouldn’t get her jewelry anymore…and he hasn’t much since. She still has LOTS of nice jewelry, but not a lot of recent purchases. If I had a picture of her wedding ring, I’d put it here---there’s a long story to it---I’m not sure I want to write it out here---so, here’s the short story. Mama has a simple band and diamond solitaire that she wore for 35 years. Then, my dad found this REALLY big, dare I say, gawdy ring that looks like gold nuggets and he put a huge diamond in it and she wears it WITH her band and solitaire. So, THREE rings on one finger! It suits her---but, it would take up over half my finger!!

But, back to me! ;D This picture wasn’t staged---this is my jewelry pile---I’ll occasionally pull out a different set of earrings, but this is my 6 out of 7 days a week stash. It consists of two necklaces—one silver, one gold; three sets of earrings-silver, my diamond studs, and my blue topaz ones; three rings---I trade out between the topaz and the pearl ring, and I always wear my wedding ring. The pearl ring belonged to my mom, but she gave it to me not too long ago. The silver earrings and necklace are from my sister, Shannon. Everything else was given to me by David.

So, did you see how I just skimmed right over the wedding ring thing? Yep—I did. Hmmmmm---it had to come up, didn’t it? My wedding ring---yes, I still wear it. Some have asked why. Well, I’m still married. Is it because I’m pining after my long lost husband? No. But why do I still wear it when he’s been gone over 18 months? I don’t know----I’ve thought a lot about this today. Do I wear it because I’m ashamed? Yes, I suppose that’s part of it. I want to protect Joshua---he still hasn’t really discussed this whole separation with anyone and I don’t want curious girls at school to ask me about it and then I have to discuss it with them. Girls ask these questions, you know. But, I think it’s mostly because of this simple truth: I’m married. That’s it. I’m not divorced---I made a covenant and I take it seriously. Will I wear my ring when I’m divorced? No-but some may think, “but your covenant isn’t broken in God’s eyes”---yeah, I don’t know. I do know this---I won’t wear it when my divorce is final. I think I’ll be embarrassed, ashamed, sad, but I also think it will be time by then. I will have to wear something else on that hand when I quit wearing my ring. After nearly 30 years of having something there-ALWAYS-I think I’ll just need something---I wonder what it will be?  I think I’ll feel naked (pronounced “ne-ked”, just so you know) without it.

So---more to say about jewelry than I ever dreamed…and I could ramble on…..