A Story

A year ago I was doing the same thing I am doing today. ..getting ready for school the day before vacation. Excited to be going on a trip to San Diego to visit crazy cousin Dottie! Life was good. Work was okay....in spite of the fact that we were dealing the best we could without our fearless Tech Team leader who was at home courageously battling back from successful brain aneurysm surgery in September. We were holding our own without her...trying to move forward with her vision and trying ever so clumsily to meet her expectations.

Off to the airport with my friend and my mom..off to sunny San Diego to visit crazy cousin Dottie. I had only met Dottie the summer before when the Tech Team traveled to San Diego for a conference. After several phone calls and attempts to find a good time to drive up to Encinitas to meet her and pay a visit, we managed a night like no other. Crammed into some little shit box of a car, up Santa Fe Drive, searching for the little cottage on the hill on Stratford Ave. We laughed, we drank, we drove to Charlie's By the Sea and ate dinner on the sand overlooking the Pacific sun setting on California surfers. It was a magical night.

Soon I would be introducing Dottie to yet another friend. A midnight cup of coffee at the San Diego airport kept us going...the Grand Marquis without any shocks, I swear, got us out to Stratford Ave once again, this time in the dark..our way lit up by the giant pine tree in her yard festooned with leftover Christams lights.

Chilly but warm. A fire was a constant in the fireplace each night, with a glass of Franzia. On Monday morning we decided we would venture into Tijuana. No, you do not need a passport to drive or walk over the boarder, or to get back! I swear! We looked it up on the Internet the night before. You only need a passport if you fly. Which we were not.

How cool is this? Armed with cameras and a jacket and a lot of laughs, we taxied to some street lined with shops. Did I mention it was 10 o'clock in the morning and we were the only ones there? We had so much fun haggling with the shop owners whose goal in life was to separate us from our last dollar. "For you? Practically free!" Trinkets, silver , turquoise, handbags, shawls, you name it. Practically free. They walked beside us along the sidewalk until we reached the next store front where we were greeted probably by their brother. Were they calling ahead? Here they come!!

I am not a crazy jewelry person, but I really liked the silver with red coral stones. I managed to snag a silver cuff bracelet inlaid with red coral chips. 20 bucks. And so the day went. We shopped til we dropped, walked back over the boarder showing our driver's license, and a smile, and back to Stratford Ave we went. The week was a fantastic mix of ocean, exercise, shopping, laughs, and a cat who slipped into our room each night through the open window. Did I mention the temperature dipped down into the 40's each night and the heat was non existant? Thank goodness for down comfortors and sweatpants!

Fast forward to summer in New England. It is pouring buckets..and has been for days. We are off to church and I have decided to wear my silver bracelet from Mexico. With the red stones. We head to breakfast, then off to church at the beach. Somewhere between putting on makeup and the homily my bracelet disappears. Gone. My brain is blank. I cannot even remember seeing it on my wrist. Maybe I never put it on? A twenty dollar bracelet from a vacation in mexico...gone. Why am I so upset? We looked EVERYWHERE! , back through the wet grass, the sidewalk, the parking lot.....retracing my steps. Back to the Airfield Cafe...maybe it's at home? Maybe I took it off?? Gone.

Two days later. "Let's go back to the church parking lot one more time," my husband says. And so we did. And there it was. Laying face down in the gravel parking lot, a little beat up looking, but whole..missing 3 stones. "Maybe you can get it cleaned up and fixed?" I was so happy. Talk about good karma!

Then off to the jewelers to get it fixed. "This could take awhile," he said, "But I have a new stone cutter." Good news! They found the stones that willmatch your bracelet...it should be ready in a week." The first day I was able to wear it I was so happy. It was November. I proudly wore it to work, showing my colleagues how beautiful it was. But by the end of the day, I noticed the stones were lighter in color.....there was pink dye on the cuff of my white sweater....What?!?!!

As I rubbed the newly polished red stones, the red dye was coming off on my fingers. This is not good. Back to the jeweler..who fired the stone cutter and promised me beyond promise taht he would fix it and make it right. But it could take awhile. It could take a trip to Arizona, even.

It is now the day before vacation, one year later. At work there is only one person left from the original trip to California....My friend has almost completely recovered, physically, from the trauma of last year. But there is more to the story...and there are emotional scars that may never go away..for any of us. The silver bracelet with the red stones is whole again. And I am going back to Encinitas once again. Who knows why I am going? To connect with family..to heal..to bring things to full circle. It is not the same, nor will it ever be the same, but it is still good. It is a healing place. There is good karma there.

The bracelet symbolizes so much in this story if you think about it..strength, patience, faith, beauty, perserverence, dedication and teamwork, to name a few. I am picking it up from the silversmith today. He does not know he has the last chapter in the story.