A Charmed Life

I was in my room the other night, and looked in one of my jewelery boxes, to find my charm bracelet, and I decided I wanted to write about it. My Mom got each of us girls one a few Christmases ago. She hoped we would all like them. Well, Sandy has it somewhere and even has added a few charms besides the two from that Christmas, but has never been hooked on the idea. Mom is pretty sure Katie has no clue what she even did with hers. But I loved it and embraced the idea, and I now have a very special bracelet, one that represents me and the things I love. I hope you will read my post because a lot of these charms have special meanings and I explain them, so I hope it is a good read.

This is the bracelet on me, and the bracelet spread out. I just wanted you to see how many charms I have added, or have received since that Christmas.

So I am going to show you each charm, and tell you why each is special, or what each means, etc. All pics can be clicked on, to see a larger view of the charm.

This is the box I keep it in. Nothing else goes in here except my bracelet. It was a gift also, but I think Sam got it for me, or both Sam and Kate. It is from The Blue Moon.

This was the charm on the bracelet. True, it came with the bracelet, but it stands for Love, at least to me it does. Love I feel, Love I give, Love that is given to me.

This was one of the first two charms I was given that day. A Hummingbird. It is my two favorite colors, blue and green. So it shows my color love, and my Mom adores hummingbirds, so it reminds me of her. I also saw my first hummingbird when she pointed it out to me, when we stayed over in Georgia, on the way to Florida one year. So it holds special memories and displays my two most favorite colors.

The other charm I was given at that Christmas was, I believe, the 4-leaf clover. I am SO proud of my Irish heritage. I want to go to Ireland someday, and I have the coloring of my Irish ancestors. Pale skin, and loads of freckles. So it represents my love of everything Irish, and a part of my geneaology. Someday I hope I can find charms to represent my Australian, New Zealand, German and Czechoslavakian ancestry too.

This, obviously, is a bear. But it means more than a teddy bear or what not, to me. You see, I have a nickname my parents gave me when I was a baby. They still use it to this day, just them though. It is used most by my Dad, I think he may have been the one who gave me the nickname. I am Wendy-Bear or Care-Bear. They have always referred to me as their Bear.

This is Tinkerbell. I adore Tinkerbell, I have a lot of Tinkerbell stuff. After all, I AM Wendy, and Tink is how we fly to Neverland! They don't sell any Wendy stuff, so Tink slowly and surely became my favorite character. She has 'tude, but is adorable too. :)

This charm I bought at the Blue Moon I think. It is the Triquetra. I love all things Celtic, which is related to my love of all things Irish, but they are different too. The Triquetra stands for various things to different people. The two I like and believe are these: 1) Child, Mother and Crone, and 2) Heavenly Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. I collect Celtic stuff, jewelery, boxes, etc. So this displays my love of Celtic art. I like that the Triquetra is never ending.

Here is my Flip-Flop charm. I have talked before about my love of flip-flops. I wish I could wear them all year round! Too bad I happen to LOVE the Fall and Winters we have here in New England, so I would never want to leave them. So I have to wear socks and shoes (big sigh) for half the year, but the as soon as the first warm day arises, I climb up into our scares the crap out of me attic, and pull my faves, Sanuk's, out and hug them too me and skip out into the warm weather.

This is my Mickey Mouse charm. It not only stands for my love of Walt Disney World, but for Walt Disney himself. He is one of my personal heroes. His talent, his dreams, were remarkable, and he made them happy. I have done research papers on his life, his conception for Epcot, just about everything, he was an amazing man. You don't believe I love him that much? Look at this pic:

And of course, WDW is my favorite place to be. I love when we go on vacation and return to palm trees and the Castle and places that have become a part of us. Seriously, while the parks may not feel as fresh as they did when I was younger, what I feel when I am in the parks, is still magical. I just have this warmth in my heart when we are there. Even when I feel bored, I like to even sit down on a bench, and soak up the atmosphere. I feel the magic.

Here is my Big Sister charm. Sure, Kate may be Sandy's older sister too, but I am THEIR Big Sister. I am THE big sister. And I take this seriously. I can mess with my sister's, but no one else is allowed to! When it comes down to it, I would do anything for them. Especially if it made it so they were never hurt in any way. I am also proud to be their Big Sister. I love them both so much, and they are two of my best friends.

Then there are my two butterfly charms. I love butterflies! On my clothes, on my jewelery, on notebooks and camera bags and all sorts of stuff. I have just always loved them. I bought a butterfly made out of a metal frame, and nylon material when I was 6 or so, in Florida. I had that butterfly hanging on my wall, whatever house we lived in, until this past year. I had to retire it to a box in my closet, because it is now so fragile, torn and old. They are just so beautiful and delicate, love them!

Some of you know, I am obsessed with Dolphins. They are my favorite animals, and YES they are mammals people. I know my dolphin facts! They are such incredible creatures, and are so beautiful! And they feel so amazing! When we are at Sea World, I can stand leaning over the wall, waiting for a chance to pet the dolphins for hours. And I HAVE. My family is so kind about sitting around, buying me dead fish when it is their feeding times. THAT is the best time. Sure you have to touch dead, PRICEY fish, but they get really close when you have food, and I have gotten to stroke under their jaws so many times. Here is a fact for you guys, for future knowledge, do NOT pet dolphin ON their "noses". That is an extremely sensitive area for them and hurts them. So anywhere else is fine. They really seem to love under their jaws to their necks. This pic was SO worth spending 30 bucks on!

This is my Mother & Daughter charm. I think, from all my posts, most of you know how close I am to my Mom. She is my best friend. And she is my Hero. I love her so much, and wouldn't be able to get through each day, without her wisdom, guidance and love. So I wanted this charm to show how close we are. Two Hearts together.

This is my Palm Tree charm. I Adore plam trees! Remember THIS picture? So that is why I have a Palm Tree charm, so I always can have one with me. Because they make me think of Florida, vacation, being free from all stress and responsibility! So they make me happy!

And my last charm is my Lake George, NY charm. If you read this post here, you know how much Lake George has meant to me and my family. It is part of my childhood, some of my best memories of my Grandma and Grandpa are in Lake George, when we camped there. So I was very excited to find this charm I could add to my special bracelet.

Everything hanging from my bracelet has a special piece of me attached to it. So I love this, and am thankful to my Mom for giving me the bracelet and my first charms. And some of my most precious ones. It is an amazing idea, and can be passed down through your family, for a long time. Even if I don't have kids ever, I will pass it down to a niece or nephew and tell them the stories of why each charm is special, so that they can pass it down to their kids.