Posted 7 months ago
carmenisacat
(88 items)
This is just a nice find. Not found in a thrift store. Not found on Ebay. Not found at a yard sale. So where did I find these things? In my jewelry box of course. My parents were born and raised in AZ. They spent many vacations up in the White Mountains and Gila Wilderness camping, fishing and probably, drinking Coors. I remember my mother mentioning Leake but that name was so embedded in my subconscious that it had to be conjured up on a Google Lens search for a separate pair of Zuni earrings that I DID find at a thrift store and paid just a dollar or two for. On Google lens, what should pop up but these old things that I've had for an ever and never loved as well as my mother's beautiful Sleeping Beauty ring that I lost so, so long ago. Which is a whole other story but I better tell it. I was going through a very, very difficult time some years ago and during that time, I was digging through records and emails and graveyards (still another story but suffice it to say, I ended up standing on the grave of my Godparents whom I had no idea where they were buried but when I found myself there in a dark hour, I knew it was miraculous)....anyhows. So I was full of sadness and anger and at that moment (the afternoon of the graveyard), I wished very hard that I could recover my mother's turquoise ring that had disappeared a few years before. After returning from the graveyard, that night I reached up into a closet and my hand found an envelope and in the envelope was a photograph I'd taken of my mother many years before that...she'd been grief stricken after all her siblings were dead, my father had passed and she found herself all alone in the world save for her children. She was holding her head and on her hand, clearly visible was the ring. It filled me with something like awe or ecstasy or delirium but as I turned around, I noticed a greeting card on the floor that I hadn't seen but must have fallen from something during my feverous searches. It was from my mom and had a brief message in her handwriting expressing her undying love for me. I knew right then and there, I'd never get that beautiful ring back. It was being traded for a miracle and I knew that. Whenever I miss that ring I remind myself that things cannot be traded for miracles. Without too much detail about that miracle you'll have to trust me that there was one, a big one. Fast forward to yesterday and searching for some Zuni earrings and falling onto a picture of my mom's OTHER ring. She only ever wore one or the other, the Sleeping Beauty or this one you see in the picture. I remember her talking about Leake but pronounced Leaky. I have to wonder if my parents met him up in Siver City, I'll never know but no one can stop me from believing. We all love our things so very much not because they are things maybe but perhaps because they lead to miracles, big or small, Each one has a little piece of our puzzle.
Beautiful Zuni jewelry and wonderful family history, nice post
I love the touching story, the picture of family with their car and little boy who seems to be providing entertainment with a harmonica, and the beautifully displayed jewelry.
I, too, lost some jewelry (rings and a watch) long ago. I console myself by knowing that that are still somewhere on the planet….so not really “gone”.
How true and thank you all for indulging me. Peace to you both.
Oh, and that's my brother Jack, my dad and mom center and left. On the right ..I believe it to be my cousin Ray whom we called Uncle Ray because he was a bit older.