A necklace that was made and given to me by one of my best friends, Norman,
a few years ago....wore out!Yup.
I loved-up-on-it so much it went ker-stunk!

A few years ago it looked all sparkley.
A beaded treasure with the words in baby block letters "All is well".
That little plastic look of elegance necklace got me through a particularly
rough patch in my life.

I have worn that treasure about 900 times in the last few years.
It was only yesterday that I noticed the plastic "crystals" gave up their shine.

Norman has made many beautiful elegant necklaces and earnings for me
but this one was the most meaningful!

Time for a trip to the local gem store.
My plan was to wrap up the necklace, ship it back to my artist friend with
brand new replacement beads.

Upon entering our local Bead Store, I asked the owner for assistance.
Or at least the woman who appeared to be the owner
(I am really good at reading energy)
This woman, my age, wearing glasses on the end of her nose, steered me past
The Austrialian crystal that shone like diamonds in the sun light
and brought me to what I was asking for muted wood tones or polished rock.

Why by pass all the glitter that my inner child still hungers for?
I told her of my new thing about toning my image down!

I use to dress more like a flower child with flashy colors
and
odd designs
and
cute little mini skirs but in the last two years, I decided to not dress so LOUD!...hahahaha
I want to look like I am in perhaps the right decade...ahum!

Lately I wear a "uniform", a uniform because it is the same every day,
black tank tops and jeans, most everywhere.
It's working! My new muted Florida look.
: )

Within five minutes of checking out the more somber beads,
I was back at the front of the store, looking through
trays and trays of magical glittery colored crystal.

I was reaching for the feeling, for the knowing, which color, what will it be?

The wood tones and anything less then a full out sparkle was not going
to work for my new necklace that was getting a much needed "face lift"...hahaha

So here I was mesmerized by knock your socks off expensive, head turning, double take,
crystal beadsl.

The owner showed me 5 trays of beautiful dazzling beads in every color
of the rainbow.

What to do?
I kept searching for that feeling of YES...this is it, but wasn't getting it.
I really didn't want to have a necklace that looked like a lite up Christmas
tree but the little girl in me was dreaming of a few beads in every color.

Counting the plastic gems on my original necklace I realized that I needed
a total of 62.
I told the owner this and than I said:
"Wait a minute, the beads in this tray look a little too large."

So she brought out one more tray.
There were only two choices in this tray.
This tray had just the right size beads
two Australian crystals
purple
and
a clear cut crystal that razzed up the purple.
I got the feeling.

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh............Easy!
That's the ticket.
Yes!
The answer!
I felt it.
I knew it.
ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

This was so easy. There wasn't even a choice. There were
only two beads in this tray and I got 31 of each color!
Two colors are just like the original only the real deal.
$38.00 later...hahaha....I had the sterling silver letters
"All is well" and 62 gems bagged up and ready to go.
I felt wonderful.....a natural high.
The feeling had clicked into place.
That wonderful knowing of DONE, yes, manifested..........ahhhhhhhhhommmmmmm

The saleslady said, as she saw me grinning
and smiling
and giggly as I slipped the packaged gems into an already addressed
to Norman postal envelope, she said:
"Why send it out, when we could string the beads for $10?"
and then she answered her own question:
"Oh, this is special, you want the person who made it for you to re-string it!"
Preeeeeeee-cise-ly!

I am grateful to this dear friend who will create a master piece once again
and
to my husband (who adores me) and for permission to use his credit card!