I don’t wear jewelry often, but sometimes an outfit needs something to complete it When that happens, I usually pull out my lucky enamel green apple necklace.
I call it “lucky” only because I was wearing it when we escaped alive and unscathed from a house fire. I know it doesn’t really carry any special power. But that doesn’t stop me from trying to imbue it with significance, even now.
You see, every time I wear it, I fill it with three jellybeans so when my kids see it, they know to check inside for a little treat. I’ve been doing this for as long as I’ve had the necklace—at first because it was fun, but now in a high-minded but probably misguided attempt to leave a little legacy.
It gives me great pleasure to think one day, maybe, they’ll come across the necklace when I’m gone and say to one another, “Remember mom and the jellybeans?” and smile. I routinely try to give them small ways to remember me. It’s partly why I always tell them to come quick when I see a beautiful sunset: mostly so they learn to appreciate sunsets, but also so they might think fondly of their mother, who taught them the importance of stopping for beautiful things, even if they happen on the daily.
I know it’s a fool’s game: there’s no way I can control what my children remember and don’t remember about me. In fact, as someone’s child myself, I am willing to bet they’ll only come up with the most random, banal stuff—like, say, how often I have to run back into the house to grab my purse when everyone’s already in the car—or, more scarily, all the mistakes I made in raising them. 😬
Better balance it out with more jellybeans, I guess.
:) Teresa
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I have a touchstone locket containing a small rock I discovered in my Dad’s jewelry box. It became mine after his passing and have sometimes wished I knew its origins but, like Shroedinger’s cat, it could be from his favourite fishing hole or some wartime memory or who-knows-what. It makes me think of my Dad and the secrets he held in his heart.❤️