Thursday, May 27, 2010

Not All Jewelry is Created Equal


Seeing as how we're pretty much drowning in jewelry at my house, I'd been kind of thinking lately about what constitutes an important, or valuable, piece of jewelry. Ultimately, I had to conclude that the most important piece of jewelry in our family is not, in fact, my wedding band (an obvious choice, I think) or my engagement ring, or even the ring that my mother gave me on the birth of my son.

No, the really important piece of jewelry isn't mine at all. Rather, it's the medical I.D. bracelet that my son now wears. It's unassuming and plain stainless steel but, although we hope he'll never have to rely on it, potentially vital to my son's well-being. It made me think about other types of "functional" jewelry like, say, dog tags, pill box necklaces or teething necklaces. As adornment goes, these are all very understated but all important in ways not necessarily connected to their aesthetic appeal.

So I was wondering: do you have any "functional" jewelry in your life? What jewelry is important to you and your family? Something functional? Something sentimental, like a necklace inherited from your grandmother? Please share!

4 comments:

WTF Store said...

You've really given me something to think about! I can't come up with any functional jewelry in our house - I can't even remember the last time that I wore a watch. Even my 'wedding' ring is handmade from glass and not all that sentimental.

Although, back when I looked after the other kids in my family, I used to make them wear luggage tags with their vitals written on them when we left the house. I'd like to find a way to get my son to wear something like that. Now I'm inspired!

Melissa J. Lee said...

I like your idea of the luggage tags! My husband and I always used to joke that we needed to sew one of those electronic object-finders onto one of the SO's buttons so we could just push a button, and it would beep out his location for us...

Jewelry Making Tools said...

Your picture caught my eye! I have a medic alert bracelet too, for my own medical conditions. I've loved learning to make my own jewelry so that I can keep the engraved part, but make my own band for it, since it's something I wear every day.

Melissa J. Lee said...

That's a nice idea. The SO, being a manly man, just likes to wear it on the stainless steel chain, but I can see how a beaded tag would be attractive, similar to a beaded I.D. badge for work.