As I was leaving the B&B yesterday to head to the commencement, my host told me there was a grocery store not far away in case I wanted to buy my daughter some flowers. I stopped and picked out a graduation card, but as I stood in front of the flowers, it just seemed a waste since she has to fly back home on Sunday. I absentmindedly twirled my necklace and felt the sudden sting of tears. It’s not what you think though…not entirely.

Julie’s father and I were married when I was not much more than a child. I was 19 and he was 20. He gave me a diamond ring on Valentine’s Day our senior year of high school. As so often happens when you marry too young, our marriage didn’t last but I got this really great kid. When I married the second time, hubby #2 was in medical school. We had nothing. So we took the diamond out of the old setting, put it in a new one and called it good. When that marriage failed after 21 years, I tried to give the engagement ring to my oldest but she wasn’t much into jewelry so she declined.

I dropped the ring in my jewelry box and forgot about it. Then Mr. Virgo came along. When he proposed, he gave me a ring that was very contemporary. I asked him if we could put the long held diamond on one side of the main stone and get one to match on the other. Continuity. When Mr. Virgo died, I had a piece of the ring with that old diamond in it removed and made into a necklace.

Yesterday, when I was trying to figure out what to give my firstborn to commemorate such a milestone as getting a Master’s degree…and my hand automatically rested on the pendant at my throat, I knew it was time. It was time to pass this stone on to her now. I wrote my sentiments in the card then tore two little slits in the top edge where I could slip in the chain.

At dinner, the girl at the next table got an Apple Watch. Ooooohs and aaaaaaaahs. I slid the card across the table and she opened it. She was thrilled…in that special non-demonstrative way she has. But I knew. Because she hugged me, said a warm thank you, and showed it off to everyone.

My neck will only feel naked for a while. But I’ll get to see that sparkle at the base of her throat now. I looked over at her during dinner. Her hand automatically reached up to touch the necklace exactly as mine always did. And I smiled.

❤️

“Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.”

1 Timothy 4:12 NIV