Jewelry Gene

I believe that the desire and ability to wear jewelry well is genetic and it skipped me.

My mom and her sisters had tons of costume jewelry and a very few expensive pieces. Mom would wear huge chunks of color on her ears and it must have been uncomfortable as her ears were never pierced. She would add on a matching necklace and bracelet with her bright make-up. She looked good and it made her feel good to add that jewelry to her ensemble.

When my Aunt Karla passed away, she left behind two suitcases full of costume jewelry. My daughters and I were invited to choose a momento. The girls' eyes were so big; they were enchanted with the overwhelming display and dove right in. I picked one pair of earrings, knowing I might never wear them.

When I do wear jewelry on some special occasion, it will be a pair of old earrings from my mom's stash. I still have much of it and I love to go through it. The girls, on the other hand, graduated from huge boxes of costume jewelry to several good pieces that they started collecting from high school on. I'm not sure if my granddaughter Quinn has the jewelry gene or not yet. At the age of six, she loves to give herself fancy manicures and have her mom paint her toenails, so I'm thinking probably, "Yes, the gene moves on."