The Charms of Me

I am not a jewelry person - I don't recall ever really being one. For years I have only worn my wedding ring (a beautiful gold claddaugh ring with an emerald for the heart and diamonds for the crown) and an occasional necklace (mother and child, irish knots, and other very meaningful ones). When I was in grad school I often wore a jingly bell ankle bracelet and occasionally some earrings. I am also not a fad person or a fashion person at all. So I must admit I was surprised when I discovered that I am actually interested in something that is popular right now in jewelry - charm bracelets.

I was at a birthday party and met a woman who had one of these Italian Charm bracelets on and each charm represented something about her life and her family. I thought that was something very special and it was also very simply done - a small simple silver bracelet - I decided that was something I would be interested in. So I will start my own small collection of things that are meaningful to me.

The thing about these bracelets is they are cheap individually but when you add them all up it will be expensive so I need to resist the urge to go out and buy all the charms I would like now and build it up over time. I started browsing charms and thinking about what I would use to represent me. Here is what I came up with.

Cross (my faith),
Clauddaugh ring (my marriage with Serona),
Princess (Rhiannon loves all things princess),
Frog (Ciaran loves all things frogs),
Baby footprint (Sirah loves walking and I love baby feet),
Paw print (for my two faithful aussies),
USA (my country),
Heart with the irish flag in it (Irish at heart),
Emerald (my birthstone),
I love NY (where I am from and to remind me of all my family that is there now),
Teacher with students (homeschooling),
Stack of books (love of reading),
Shamrock (luck of the Irish),
Recycle symbol (environmentalist),
USA ribbon (support our troops and remember 9/11),
@ symbol (for this blog and all my computing),
Camping tent (love of camping),
Knitting needles (for crocheting and crafting)
Pen and paper (for writing both Serona and I)

These are some of the key things that make up who I am and I think collecting them all together on a simple bracelet is appealing to me. So for once (or maybe twice there is probably something in my past I am forgetting) I am going to jump in with the fad and start collecting Italian Charms for a charm braclet.

Peace,
Tenn