The Exciting Adventures of ------- Peafowl?????
I've always had this "thing" for peacocks. Needless to say, they're beautiful animals, but I've always had a fascination with them. Presently, I live in an area where they wander free through the neighborhood. But it goes back much further than that . . . .
When my grandmother was a young girl just after the turn of the century, her grandmother gave her a ring. It was a sterling silver ring in the shape of a peacock, with emeralds and blue sapphires in the tail, and a ruby eye. It was surrounded by a band of flowers that had small sapphires nestled in the center of them. Her family was not exactly well-to-do, and gifts of jewelry were quite rare and quite dear. But still, little did they know the role this ring would play in their family's future. If rings could talk, I would let him tell his own tale, but since he's not spilling, I have to recount what I know of the little guy's history.
Grandma loved this ring and wore it all the time. Her friend Charlotte was constantly admiring it and asking to wear it, but Grandma wouldn't let her. It was too valuable. Finally at school one day, after constant urging, Grandma finally let Charlotte try on the ring.
Oh, Charlotte tried on the ring all right. She tried on the ring so long that she wore it home. Somehow, Charlotte then forgot to bring the ring back to Grandma, again and again and again. Imagine her horror when Grandma discovered that Charlotte had moved. This was the day before cell phones and email, and when someone was gone, they were gone.
Life went on, Grandma grew up nicely and had a family of her own, and subsequently had grandchildren (you knew I'd pop up here sooner or later, didn't you?). One day, after all those years, Grandma was walking down the street in the shopping district in town and who should she run across but Charlotte, the infamous ring thief!
Being the forgiving woman that she was, Grandma didn't hold a grudge and it was a happy reunion. In fact, they made plans to get together that evening with their spouses. Imagine Grandma's surprise when Charlotte walked in and said, "I have something of yours," and presented her with her long-lost ring.
The little peacock worked its magic, and Grandma and Charlotte became good friends once again. Even when Grandma moved across the country from Michigan to California, Charlotte would come out to visit until they were well into their 80's.
I was probably about 9 or 10 at the time, but I still remember Grandma telling us the story of Charlotte and the ring. I thought this ring was the most exotic and beautiful thing I had ever seen and would ask for it and just stare at it in wonder every time I visited Grandma.
Finally, as a teen, I reached the age that Grandma thought I would be responsible enough to take care of the peacock ring and gave it to me. My own mother thought it was tacky and gaudy, but I didn't care. This was the most beautiful ring I had ever seen and I treasured it.
I loved "my" ring and wore the ring constantly through my teen years. As a matter of fact, I loved it so much that I wore the poor little guy down. One of the small emerald stones fell out of the bottom of the tail and one fell out of one of the flowers on the right, it lost its ruby eye, became tarnished on the left side, and the band became worn in the right back and separated. Eventually, I grew up and placed the little guy in my jewelry box, vowing to save it for my own granddaughter.
Then came the poor little peacock's next great adventure. When my daughter Katie was about three, our house was broken into and my jewelry box, including the ring, was stolen. I've never been one that was that into jewelry, but I was devastated over the loss of the peacock ring. As Katie grew, I would often tell her the story of the ring and how badly I felt that I couldn't pass it on.
But then one day, something -- or someone -- told me to check out Ebay. Now I have to tell you, my family lives so long, you can't kill us off with a stick. I KNEW my great-great grandmother as a child -- in fact, my great grandmother lived until I was 30 (darn, did I just confess I was over 30?) -- and yes, I know the message was from her.
So being a person that listens to all those little voices in my head, I went to Ebay and filled in "peacock ring" in the little search box. Up popped many peacock opal rings, and one sterling silver ring which looked exactly like my ring! I quickly put in a bid, and watched the bid constantly until it ended. Fortunately, I was the only bidder and won the ring for only a few dollars.
I waited impatiently (in my world, the word "impatiently ALWAYS follows "waited") for the package. I had never thought that this was a made-to-order ring, and assumed others could possibly still exist. When the little box arrived from Indiana, I opened it and stared in shock. This was a little sterling silver peacock ring missing one of the small emerald stones out of the bottom of the tail, missing another out of one of the flowers on the right, missing its ruby red eye, was tarnished on the left side, and the band worn in the right back and separated. This was not just A ring, it was THE ring. He had come home once again.
I wrote to the seller asking where he had gotten the ring, and told him its history. He wrote back promptly and told me he had purchased it from the widow of a jeweler. The jeweler and his wife used to travel the United States each summer in their RV looking for antique jewelry at flea markets and estate sales. He went on to tell me that he had plucked it out of a wooden box of old jewelry marked "Trash." The seller was amused by my story and said that it must be one of them there "omens."
Just goes to show that the old adage is true, "One man's trash is another man's treasure."
So, the peacock was meant to go to my granddaughter, but I decided to return the old guy to his glory and took him to the jewelry to be cleaned up, repaired, and I gave him to my Katie for Christmas that year. You know, out of all the Christmas gifts she received that year, all the "new" stuff, all the electronics, etc., this was her very favorite present. But she had one worry.
Katie came to me and said, "Mom, I'm afraid of the responsibility. I'm scared to death I'll lose it."
I turned to my daughter and said, "Honey, not to worry. If he follows tradition, he will get lost along the way. But he belongs to us. If he should get lost, some way, some how, he will find his way home."
Below is a picture of the peacock ring. He did lose one of the blue sapphires from his tail recently and hasn't been to the jeweler yet. Sorry for the blurry pic.
P.S. This story has been published before, so if you read it previously, it was me.
If anyone would like me to discuss a particular subject, other than a personal reading, please feel free to submit ideas.