Jewelry Girl

Oh, to be a Jewelry Girl.

You know her. Maybe you are her. Maybe when you get ready for the day, you go to your expansive closet and open your jewelry case. Not jewelry box, but jewelry case, an actual piece of furniture with ten drawers, a padded velvet interior, and copper hooks.

You pull open your drawers and ask yourself: gold or silver today?

You decide the silver will look better with your tan, and you begin to patiently layer your necklaces by using the mirror at the top of your jewelry case. You step closer for a better look, and nod in approval. Next you go for rings, which are lovingly and gently encased in their velvet drawer, then consider your bangles and earrings. Your look is sophisticated and never overdone, and at the end of the day your jewelry goes back into its case, waiting for its next opportunity to shine. Meanwhile, the pieces you didn’t wear that day tingle in expectation that maybe tomorrow will be their day.

I’ve love to to be a Jewelry Girl, but certain personal circumstances prevent it.

There’s too much variety. How does one choose from the thousands of pieces online and in stores? How can anyone actually not like a piece of jewelry? Like if you get jewelry for a holiday, do you say, “This just isn’t me”? How do I know what is me, and what isn’t?

I’m too clumsy. I tend to get myself caught on, well, the planet. I get my sleeves caught on flatware, my pockets caught on drawers, my feet caught on hampers. Necklaces and bracelets and earrings are risky when attached to my body.

I lose it. Last month an expensive pearl stud fell out of my earlobe. It’s in the house somewhere. A month before that, I misplaced my beloved one-of-a-kind silver stacking ring I bought in Scottsdale. It’s in the house somewhere. Last summer I lost a rose gold hoop earring, a pair of earrings which was the last gift I received from my late husband. It is not in the house somewhere, but in a parking lot elsewhere.

I’m impatient and also going blind. I barely have enough patience and eyesight to put on one necklace much less a bevy of pieces.

I have recently fallen in love with a jewelry brand, a brand that is endorsed by my favorite actress. Something about their pieces does something to me. It’s like Andrew Wyeth’s art- I’m drawn to it, but I lack the words to explain how. I have begun secretly to stockpile pieces by this jewelry designer, which has its own display in Nordstom. My goal is to have an entire jewelry box filled with it. The prices range from reasonable to outrageously expensive, and so far I have invested in a bracelet and most recently, a necklace.

The necklace is on a very sturdy silver chain, and the bracelet is a silver cuff which is simply unloseable. I’m not taking any chances.