"M" is for memories

Two years ago on Mother’s Day, Caroline gave me a bracelet.  Oddly enough at my advanced age, it was my first charm bracelet.

I’d collected memories in other ways; in junior high, for example, I went through autograph books like nobody’s business. (I didn’t have autographs of famous people, but of my classmates; we all seemed to be “2 good 2 be 4 gotten.”)

Later on, I collected Wedgwood china, and I tried for a while to collect memorabilia from different political campaigns and movies. But nothing stuck … until this bracelet.

Even though I don’t remember having owned a charm bracelet when I was young, I doubt the available charms would have been as specific as the ones that decorate my bracelet today, and that’s what attracts me to the idea of collecting them. The company that makes these charms really seems to have one for every imaginable location, pastime or scenario.

Caroline started me out with a pearl “mother” charm; from there, I’ve purchased, or been gifted, charms to commemorate not only my trip to the UK but also my alma mater, my good friend and my dog.

I can look on my left wrist and see the Union Jack, a scroll and a doghouse. The memories are instant, and are far more portable than carrying around one of those old autograph books.

What’s more, after I’m gone one day, this hopefully will fall into one of those “treasured possession” categories for my daughter … who started the whole thing to begin with.

I’ve always been somewhat nostalgic, but as we age, memories take on a whole different significance. How wonderful to have so many of them bound, tangibly, where I can see them, and in such a nice package.