The Necklace Story

This is basically just a random post where I will explain to you the meaning of the necklace which I have worn pretty much every day since the 8th/7th grade.

I got my necklace towards the end of my seventh grade year when my grandma decided that they shouldn't only be focusing on the people graduating, so she bought me this necklace with a cross on it.

I'm pretty sure I never took the thing off. Well, during my 8th grade year some of my friends decided to give me charms to put on my necklace. From my friend Caitlin Dahl, I received a peace sign; from Emilee Cavaness, I got a key; from Arianna Neal, I got a lock; from Chelsea Fell, I got a piano, a fish, and a Japanese coin.

Each one of these charms is a reminder of my friends who I don't think I could forget if I tried (not that I want to). In the last 5 or so years that I've worn the necklace a lot has changed. I decided that the 7 charms were too much, and narrowed it down to a lock, a piano, a cross, a peace sign, and a key. The coin ended up on my car keys, and the fish I put on my house keys. That didn't make them mean anything less though!

Well, my grandma saw this, and it made her happy that I liked the necklace so much so she gave me a little prayer box to put on it. I gladly put the prayer box on my necklace in between the cross and the peace sign.

Some more time progressed, and my necklace broke more times than I could count, but I kept wearing it. Eventually, the peace sign disappeared. I still have no idea what happened to it, but it was just gone one day. One of the times my necklace broke I had my friend take it so she could fix it up and what not. When I received my necklace back the next day my piano was missing, and no one knows where it went. The fish, broke one day when my dad opened the door as I was unlocking it and I dropped my keys.

The lock lasted the longest (I think) of the charms that are no longer on anything. My friend Christopher always joked about unlocking the lock with the key, and one day when we were bowling he got a little bit overzealous and broke the lock. It's actually still somewhere in my home.

As far as the non-charm things go, my prayer box is currently housing two things. The first thing is a rock from my friend Christopher's house that my friend Emilee put there. I haven't taken it out except to show to people here and there, but it's been there for a while.

The other thing I keep in my prayer box is a star. A little paper star that I was handed last semester by an acquaintance. The girl who gave it to me was in my CS classes, and I started getting to know them from just being around them before classes started. It wasn't really until the end of the semester/the start of this semester that I really started hanging out with them though. Ann, who gave me the star, along with her whole group of friends has worked their way into my life, just like anything else that has ended up on my necklace.

A story of love, and joy, and friendship. A story of distance, and loss, and pain.

A story of hope, and renewal. =D

Basically, this necklace has been through a lot of stuff with me, and for some reason, when I don't feel like continuing, it inspires me to keep going.