Into the Void and Out Again: Remarkable Reappearances

 

It’s amazing to me when I get attached to something that is embarrassingly unnecessary in my life. Something that is superfluous. But is it?

We all have attachments to things that are considered a luxury or even a vanity. But the interesting thing about jewelry is that we wear it so intimately and often with great personal reflective meaning. It becomes a part of our body, our talisman, and our persona. It comes into our lives and then poof it’s gone. Where did it go? How can I go on without it?

When I was 16 and scavenging through my mother’s jewelry drawer, I came upon a small rose gold Figa the size of a bean. She and my father had lived in Brazil for 10 years and this amulet in the shape of a small clenched fist was considered good luck and frequently pinned to the baby blanket of a newborn for protection. With her blessing, I became the new owner of this Figa which I wore on a single gold hoop for over 20 years. With a surprising lack of observation on my part, the jump ring above the Figa wore through (reference Blog “Can This Be Repaired? 2/3/08) and the little clenched fist dropped from my earring into oblivion. I was panic-stricken: was I no longer protected, doomed to a bout of bad luck? I searched everywhere for my little talisman and gave up knowing that it had found it’s way back into the void. I never really recovered from that loss and blamed all current my misfortune on that missing Figa. 5 years later I moved into a larger space. I unrolled and laid out a black oriental rug in my studio that had been in storage for many years. As I was talking on the phone one day, I glanced into the central medallion of that rug and there was my Figa, sparkling in the sunlight in the very central “rose” of the medallion. I could not believe my eyes. And I could not believe that it coincided with the death of my mother.

Over the holidays, Cynthia was visiting her family in Vermont. I’ve been with C’s family for Christmas dinner, so I know it is a lavish event with fine china and linens that hold court with the smorgasbord of gourmet delights. The day after Christmas Cynthia called me trying to contain the panic in her voice: “I’ve lost BOTH of my pinky rings”. She was distraught with this loss that seemed to mirror other losses in her life on so many levels. This is what we do: attach meaning. If I’ve lost this, what else will or has disappeared from my life?

How many times have I received these phone calls or lost something I loved as seemingly silly as a piece of jewelry? The answer is many, many times. But I have a secret I will share with you. I think that the jewelry I make is infused with such love and good intentions that not only will a lost piece of jewelry fall into the void, but it just might find it’s way out and back to you.

The next day Cynthia called to tell me that she’d found one of her rings in the hem of her shirt. She was on her way back to California and feared she’d never find the other one. I had already pulled some pinky rings from my stock and was getting ready to finish one for her when I received an email from her saying that her mother had shaken out the tablecloth from Christmas Dinner, put it in the wash and the dryer when she heard a ping of something metallic rolling around in the dryer. AND THERE IT WAS! The second pinky ring reappeared!

I like to think that the universe reclaims items when they fall into the void. Their time with you is up, or is it? The seasons change; things come and they go. One minute they’re here, the next minute there gone. Don’t Panic, it’s the natural order of things. What is taken away is replaced. Perhaps you are next on the list for a remarkable reappearance.