SoCS – The Charm of Bracelets (cele)

Day 149

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “cele-” Find a word that starts with or contains “cele” and use it any way you’d like. Enjoy!

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Bracelets

I never wear bracelets anymore however that was not always the case. As a young child I remember making bracelets and necklaces out of clover flowers. We painfully tied them together and wore them until our parents or grandparents made us take them off. I even remember adorning myself with a beautiful clover flower crown once as well!

I also loved to rummage through my grandmother’s costume jewelry. She did not have a fancy jewelry box. Instead, she stored her jewelry in an old Whitman’s candy box tucked away in the cedar wardrobe in her bedroom. At that time, pop beads were very fashionable. My grandmother had pearl-looking pop beads creamy white or pale pink in color. Pop beads were individual beads that you could pop apart and make necklaces of any size. I can remember trying to make a bracelet from pop beads, but it was hard to make a circle small enough to serve as a bracelet. (I did not get to wear pop beads to church when I was a child because I popped them incessantly.)

I remember for Christmas one year, my sisters and I all received gold bracelets inscribed with the Ten Commandments. Most every young girls where I grew up had one of these bracelets.

In grade school, we had a huge auditorium where special programs were held. During one of these programs, I got in a great deal of trouble over a charm bracelet. I had never seen a charm bracelet, and I was mesmerized by all the miniature objects on the bracelet. During our assembly, my friend let me see the bracelet and I decided to try out the miniature scissors by cutting one of her strands of hair. We were all having quite a jolly good time. That was until we returned to the classroom. My teacher gave us quite a lecture on how we should behave during assembly gave me a swat on my thigh while seated in my desk with her huge wooden paddle. Corporal punishment was not uncommon when I was in school, but it was quite uncommon for me! That was to be my first and only experience.

When I was in the military, I wore a POW bracelet. It was during the end of the Vietnam war and the bracelets were purchased for $2 or $3. The bracelet was engraved with the name of a service member who was either a POW or MIA. The vow was to wear the bracelet until the service member or his/her remains returned home. It is sad to know there are still over 1600 American soldiers still unaccounted for. It is also still possible to order POW bracelets for some of the Americans still unaccounted for.

Later in life, I started doing beading and making jewelry. I started to make survivor bracelets for survivors of sexual abuse. I never sold them, they were always given away. Made from stones and colors meaningful to victims, I always included a small poem I wrote for each recipient. I have since made them for survivors of cancer and other trauma. I actually have two bracelets in progress at the moment, so it is still a passion. These bracelets serve as a touchstone for victims and as a reminder of their strength as a survivor.

I could go on and on about bracelets, but I think this covers the most meaningful memories of bracelets in my life.

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Follow Linda G. Hill’s blog to write along every Saturday.

Here are the rules for SoCS:

1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing, (typos can be fixed) and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.

2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.

3. There will be a prompt every week. I will post the prompt here on my blog on Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance, I will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” “Begin with the word ‘The’,” or simply a single word to get your started.

4. Ping back! It’s important, so that I and other people can come and read your post! For example, in your post you can write “This post is part of SoCS:” and then copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into yours.  Your link will show up in my comments for everyone to see. The most recent pingbacks will be found at the top. NOTE: Pingbacks only work from WordPress sites. If you’re self-hosted or are participating from another host, such as Blogger, please leave a link to your post in the comments below.

5. Read at least one other person’s blog who has linked back their post. Even better, read everyone’s! If you’re the first person to link back, you can check back later, or go to the previous week, by following my category, “Stream of Consciousness Saturday,” which you’ll find right below the “Like” button on my post.

6. Copy and paste the rules (if you’d like to) in your post. The more people who join in, the more new bloggers you’ll meet and the bigger your community will get!

7. As a suggestion, tag your post “SoCS” and/or “#SoCS” for more exposure and more views.

8. Have fun!