Jewelry

I'm not sure why, but I love jewelry.  Maybe the penchant for shiny things is an artifact of a previous life as a cat.  Maybe I appreciate the jeweler's creativity of designing beautiful pieces and the painstaking craftsmanship that goes into making the creative vision a reality.

I should say that I really don't like wearing jewelry.  I seem to always feel it and I don't enjoy the feeling.  After being married for 13 years, I am still not even comfortable wearing my wedding band.  I will almost always wear it while out of the house (otherwise women would be pestering me), but seldom wear it in the house.

I do love buying jewelry for my wife and daughter, though.  I used to buy Kate a pair of earrings every year for Christmas until she made me stop.  Then for her first Mother's Day, I bought her a Swarovsky crystal pin (or brooch to be a little more old fashioned) and I have now assembled for her a pretty decent collection of those.  She has also gotten several bracelets and rings over the year.

Part of the challenge I enjoy in buying Kate jewelry lies in finding nice pieces that aren't overly pricey, for I am not a financially wealthy guy.  Tradeoffs have to be made:  stones that are less than perfect, or perfect stones that are smaller, lower carat gold, well designed pieces made of less expensive material (i.e. sterling silver and semi-precious stones).  I think, overall, I have made some really good choices.  I've never heard Kate complain (except for getting too many earrings).

Now I have a daughter that I can look forward to showering with jewels.  Because she's only eight, most of her jewelry is juvenile, so significantly less fun to buy.  This past Christmas, though, I bought her what I would consider her first "real" piece.  Lena has long been fascinated by opals, so I bought her a pair of opal earings set in silver.  She loves them.  As she gets older, I'll continue to seed her collection.  I hope she'll look on the jewelry I get for her to be something special, something to remind her of me when I am long gone from this earth.