Charm bracelets

When I was growing up, the eighth grade graduation was most important. Why am I bringing this up? Well, Alan and I were watching I remember Mama, a really old (as old as I) black and white movie and it was very important in the lives of Mama's children to graduate from 8th grade.

When I graduated from 8th grade -- we had a wonderful ceremony and the girls all had to wear white dresses. That's me, in the picture in my white dress. Mom tried to spruce it up with those frills on the bodice. I disliked that dress immensely. The shoes, I loved. The dress wasn't new -- it was a hand-me-down, and it wasn't really white -- it had yellowed. But that's not the point. The point is, 8th grade graduation was a big deal. Why? Well, back then mandatory high-school attendance wasn't -- you could drop out at 16 and no one cared. Of course, you had two years to go after 8th grade, but several of my class members opted not to go back to school after graduation.

Anyway, as in the movie, gifts were given to the graduates by family and friends. I do not recall getting any gifts when I graduated from high school, because it just wasn't done, I guess.

Anyway, one gift I remember fondly is a bracelet -- sterling silver -- that had a heart on it with my initials monogrammed on it. I added many charms to that bracelet, but alas, it's gone. Where? I don't know. I just know that when we moved to Cincinnati from NJ is was among the mission.

I spent the better part of today searching through EBAY thinking maybe the stealer of that bracelet is wanting to get rid of it and has put it out for purchase. I looked at over 2,000 bracelets, silver charm, vintage, and found one that many of the same charms, but not the same bracelet.

What charms did I put on that bracelet when I was in my teen years? Silly things, really. A typewriter with a movable carriage, a piano (grand) with a lid that lifted up, a violin, a treble clef, a telephone (rotary dial that moved), a globe, an abacus, a protractor, a slide rule, a map of NJ, a graduation cap, a tennis racket. And one more charm, which was given to me by my mother-in-law the first Christmas she gave me something. She said when she saw it she just knew I had to have it. What was it? It was a screw with a ball attached to it. Huh? A screwball. Yes, that's what she said. Not being daunted I attached it to that bracelet and told anyone who would listen about that screwball charm!

I wonder where that bracelet is now? I have another charm bracelet that was started for me by my husband, and there are charms on it that are from as far back as1963 -- that would make them 44-plus years old. They are mostly charms from places we've been -- although there's another charm bracelet in my jewelry box that has many "place" charms. I guess the one my husband started in '63 is more from our early marriage years.

Enough remembering for today. Back at ya next week.