She Never Wears Gold

 

From the time I was old enough to talk, my parents had me dripping in 24 Karat gold. It was part of my Indian heritage and family legacy to be adorned in gold jewelry at all times.

When I was about 5 years old my ears were pierced at which time I was presented with diamond post earrings, sleepers, and gold knobs. Those were the only type of earrings acceptable at prep school so I wore them with joie de vivre as if they were chandeliers of diamonds hanging from my ears.

Ever since I can remember I was always a baubles and gems kind of girl. I either like very delicate jewelry or pieces that were raucous and expensive. As I matured I much preferred precious gems like sapphire, rubies, emeralds, pearls and of course diamonds.

Whenever I was taken to the jewelry store to select earrings, while everyone was indulging in gold I would pick out earrings with precious gems even if it were just  tiny sparks of rubies or emeralds.

I soon discovered it was a trait I had inherited from my Indian granny because she felt a woman should always be adorned with precious gems, bangles and decorative saris. Unfortunately for her I entered my Tom-boy phase where I wanted no part of the adornment because it took away too much time from my skateboarding endeavors.

On both my maternal and paternal side of the family they love gold jewelry and adorning themselves therefore when I decided to go off on a tangent everyone was up I arms.

They thought surely I had been taken over by aliens. Nonetheless, as I grew older I hoped I would grow out of my indifference towards jewelry. Over the years I received some very nice, one of a kind pieces as gifts from family members, friends and paramours.

At times I became a bit ambivalent to wear them because whilst scurrying around in New York City it often attracted the wrong attention. Many of the jewelry I possessed had such sentimental value. I had owned them since I was a child and I felt I could not bear to part with them.

Therefore when folks saw me wearing costume jewelry they assumed that I did not have or did not know better. I just felt that there was no one for me to impress by dripping myself in gold, gems and diamonds all the time. I had hoped people were not as shallow as they seemed.

Apparently I was wrong. Yet I did not care because people either like you for who you are and not for the grand show you are capable of putting on. So, I continued to collect jewelry in the hopes that one day when the world was not as crazy as it is today I can adorn myself from head to toe having my own music wherever I go.

While I was busy collecting and preserving jewelry I found out something rather interesting about myself. I learned that I much preferred estate jewelry. Which is old, vintage pieces. Not  worn or pre-owned but they had to look as if they belonged to the Victorian era.

Perhaps that was the reason I had lost interest in jewelry wearing for so long because I had an affinity for a certain type of jewels.

Anyroads, as luck would have it and I began embarking on my adventures as a holistic practitioner part of my fundraising efforts included divesting myself of my jewelry. It was gut-wrenching because there were items which were given to me from a baby, as well as customized pieces which can never be replaced.

But, I had a dream and the banks and some family members were not acknowledging my dream so I took the bull by the horns. Then my Granny dreamed me and said, ” So tell me, if you were married would you divest of your wedding rings as easily?”

I answered her with an empathetic no because I was certain there are just some items you cling to with integrity.