The Six Million Dollar Bracelet

When she was four and a half, Daughter bought me a bracelet with a locket on it.  I suspect she had help; she’s always been smart but she wasn’t tall enough to reach over the counter at that age.  It was a silver bracelet with a heart that says ‘I love you Mummy’ on the front and ‘There’s not a Mummy in the world more special than you’ on the back.  Cheesy, right? But of course my most treasured possession.

When it was new, the locket was anchored on to a particular link on the bracelet.  It was where it should be at all times.  I wore this bracelet 24/7, and there the heart was, same place all the time.  Then about a year later, out with the girls for a meal, it fell off.  Luckily, it dropped onto my lap and I was able to take it to the jewellers and get it fixed.  But I didn’t get it fixed on to a link, on the advice of the jeweller.  So suddenly, it wasn’t exactly where I thought it was.  It moved up and down, caused a bit of distraction.

And then you guessed it; the bracelet itself broke.  I’ve had this bracelet for over seven years now, and have paid twice its’ worth in repairs and replacements.  It’s almost in Trigger’s Broom category (‘I’ve had this broom twenty years…five new heads and seven new handles…’).  I think I’m on bracelet number seven, and the locket itself is the Six Million Dollar Man of lockets (We have the power to rebuild him…).  It’s been soldered shut, because it kept flying open at inopportune moments.  It’s had the link that holds it on to the link that holds it on to the bracelet completely rebuilt (at a cost greater than the original gift, I might add).  It’s had a stronger link to bracelet made.  It got stuck for a while on a bangle, and for the first time in years (notwithstanding all the time it had been in repair!) I didn’t wear it.  It was odd, not wearing it.  It was nice that it didn’t clank on the table, or get caught in certain sleeves.  But I felt a bit bare, like something was missing.  Daughter noticed I wasn’t wearing it, and 48 hours later I took delivery of bracelet number seven, polished it up and put it back on.  I do love jewellery, but in this time of not leaving the house, not even my wedding rings are being worn.  Nothing but this bracelet.  It’s a bit noisy sometimes.  Sometimes it stops me from sleeping.  Sometimes it gets in the way of work or chores.  But I don’t take it off.  Because although it can be a pain, it’s bright and shiny, it looks nice, it’s a distraction (largely from boring meetings) and gives me something to do (zooming it up and down the bracelet in boring meetings, which is probably what wore the link away in the first place), it makes me smile and above all it reminds me I’m loved. 

Writer’s disclaimer – for those fully on board with the jewellery as a metaphor for child theme, please do note that you can’t buy replacements for your child on Amazon J