One day last year I got a completely random package in the mail. No name, a return-address I didn’t recognize, no letter or note to explain it. Inside the package was this:
Now what would you think? Secret-admirer with no taste in jewelry? A heavily veiled hint of some kind? Stalker? A bashful fairy godmother with gaudy taste in accessories? A case of mistaken identity?
I puzzled over this for a while, but eventually I identified the only possible answer: my mother.
My mom is an empress of ebay, a trash-n-treasure queen. She finds things for herself, my sister and me, but she also finds things to re-sell. Some of her finds are definitely treasures, but others are… doozies. My sister and I usually agree that our mother has a very open mind when it comes to second-hand shopping.
Last year my mom bought a mixed lot of costume jewelry on ebay and had it shipped to me in
When that bracelet arrived in the mail – months later and with no additional information – the only explanation I could come up with was that Mom’s original seller had belatedly discovered one more item that hadn’t shipped with the first lot and just sent it on. We never totally confirmed that theory, but it’s the only one we have so we’ve gone with it.
The funny thing is that now the bracelet has a life of its own. It lives in my office and is the official Cheer Up Bling of the Collections Office. Bad day? Wear the Bling! It goes with everything. (See photo.) It has attended tedious meetings and cheerfully brightened up hours of data entry. Its comfy elastic strands ensure that it fits just about any wrist that comes along, and it appears to have no gender preference.
I’m only just realizing how much I rely on the humor and sparkle and, er, elegance, of rhinestones to brighten up gloomy times.
(If any of you out there actually mailed me this bracelet in your own secret way, do feel free to ‘fess up. I’m truly grateful, weird as it is.)
1 comment:
I totally would have sent you that bracelet if I had been the one to find it. The thing is, I tend to like taking credit for my 'finds' so there is little chance I would send it to you anonymously. That suddenly feels like a personal challenge: find something deeelightful and send it along secretly....I"ll get right on that.
btw, that novel you gave me is AWESOME.
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