Memory Jewelry

My husband gave me a charm bracelet when our daughter, Lily, was born. We travel a lot, so I decided to add a charm to the bracelet for each place that our family visits. Eventually, I'll give the bracelet to Lily to commemorate all of the different places she's been. I like the idea of passing along the bracelet and our memories to her someday.

I've found some of the charms in the places we've gone. It has been harder to find location-specific charms than I anticipated it would be. I've ordered many of them from Charm Factory with the idea that it's more important to represent the place we visit than to actually find the charm there. (The cheese represents Milwaukee, WI, for example.) I'm writing about each charm and its corresponding trip in Lily's journal so she'll have the code. I also plan to tell her about them as she gets older and more interested.

Since starting this charm project, I've been thinking a lot about heirlooms and other ways to make jewelry and gifts that will be passed down to future generations. It has made me miss my grandmother a lot. I used to love looking through her jewelry box. She died when I was in high school, before I had a chance to ask her all of the questions that I would ask now if I could.

I would like to know if there's a story behind her sapphire ring. And I want to hear about the dances that she and my grandfather attended - she in her fancy hats, gloves, scarves and fabulous costume jewelry. But since I can't ask her these questions, I'll just picture a quiet afternoon in her bedroom, looking at jewelry with her.

I hope you have a peaceful Memorial Day.