“I’m/She’s/He’s not a jewelry person” and other phrases of fiction

Are you a “Jewelry Person”?

I had a funny experience with a very nice gentleman the other day. While waiting in line, which admittedly, I have trouble doing in silence, I had a conversation with the gentleman behind me. We got to talking about what we each do for a living, families etc. The subject of her upcoming birthday was mentioned and the fact that he needed a gift. He, like most gift givers regardless of the holiday/event commented that his girlfriend was “not a jewelry person”.

Now, I’ve been in the business a while, so I asked a question I do often which was “Have you ever given her any?”. Not surprisingly, his answer was “No”. You would be amazed how many times I’ve heard that answer. I bet if he’d given her something, she’d have worn it and a ‘jewelry person’ would have been born – but not in the way you think. It doesn’t mean that now she would be addicted to jewelry television and start collecting her own crown jewels. It means something else entirely.

Now, I could bore you with the history and symbolism of jewelry throughout the ages, but since it’s late in the evening as I write this, I’ll just ask you this:

Preschool Jewelry Couture – The Macaroni Necklace

Raise your hand if you have ever made or received a macaroni necklace in your lifetime. Keep it up if you still own that necklace and it’s greater than a year old. Did you keep it because macaroni goes with everything? Of course not. Likely, it was given to you by a little one and presented to you for a special occasion or it was just craft day at daycare.  Remember their face when they couldn’t wait to give it to you after a long day at work to make you smile?

I don’t know about you, but our daycare was a pretty diverse group. I’m sure that the other moms and dads that got macaroni creations that day might have had a whole jewelry box full of baubles, and others very little if any at all. But what we all had in common universally, was that born out of love was a treasure of very little intrinsic value, but worth it’s weight in gold to the child who created it.

It’s all in the details…

If you’ve ever watched a child make a macaroni necklace, they spend an incredible amount of time picking what beads and macaroni go on them, what color string or pipe cleaner to use, and choosing from available embellishments to make it special. You can see the joy in their face every time you wear it or tell someone else about it in their presence. You wear it for that reason, and it makes them feel good. The little boy that gave me mine is 24 now, and I still have it. I don’t wear it anymore, but I still look at it, and I remember.

It’s the same between adults. My Dad was not a ‘jewelry person’, but if my mom gave it to him, he wore it because he knew she loved seeing it on him. How did he know that? She told him when he wore it how much she loved it on him. Pretty honest, simple positive reinforcement.

My Dad worked with his hands all his life, but for 4 days short of 65 years he wore his gold wedding band because he was committed to her. Whenever he got dressed up – church, dinner out with her, he wore the other jewelry pieces she had given him. He didn’t wear it to impress other people or because he was a “jewelry person”, he wore it because she chose it especially for him, and because he knew it made her happy.

In other words, a macaroni necklace of a different color.

I hope the gentleman I talked to in line buys his girlfriend a piece of jewelry someday, and I hope if he does that he tells her why he picked that particular piece especially for her. Better yet, I hope he tells her that in a handwritten card so she can always remember….and I hope she wears it for that reason at least once.