A Charmed Family Affair

A few years ago, I lived in Europe as a younger woman, my older sister had invited me to be her live in ‘nanny’ for her baby daughter; she was enlisted in the United States Air Force and was stationed in Europe, Spain namely, and then was eventually transferred to the Netherlands before returning to the United States of America. We had the most wonderful time living in Spain back when telephone poles were still a new development. We lived in the middle of nowhere surrounded by sheep, buses and Spanish speaking people, we walked to the local small market to buy drinkable water every day. My birthday occurred during this time in our lives and this is when I was gifted my Pandora bracelet and first charm, my sister continued to give me these charms to fill my bracelet. Below I have recounted some of these memorable life moments and how they led to my charm bracelet being built.

Over the next two years of my older sister, her baby daughter and myself being a family I was able to acquire multiple sterling silver Pandora charms for special occasions in our lives. For whatever reason my sister took a liking to the little dangling charms and so began the Easter egg hunt of dangling charms. The first time I was given a sterling silver charm with the white dangle was when my niece was baptized. We had my mother mail the baptism gown that we wore as babies for my niece to wear during her sacred moment. The gown was still so gorgeous with its delicate fabric, lace, and white color; it was the long traditional gown with the matching bonnet. My sister saw me as the other parent and wanted to thank me for being there, given I was not the biological parent and still a single woman not wanting to ward off potential suitors with a baby shoe charm on my wrist and a lot of explaining to do; she saw it fitting to give me a more delicate charm with the white dangle to commemorate the baptism of my niece. I should add that I had mentioned to my sister that I would like to start a bracelet for her, however she was an enlisted non-commissioned officer and jewelry was not allowed beyond the basics. Not until years later did we start her a Pandora charm bracelet. I cried when she explained her rationale behind choosing this special and dainty charm. I love it, it has the meaning of helping raise a small baby into a toddler and being able to trial parenthood with loved ones, the moments and memories are imprinted forever!

The next sterling silver charm with the black bead dangle has a witty twist to it. My sister was sent to Germany, we were now living in the Netherlands, for a two week stint away for training through the military. My niece and I stayed in Holland until some fellow friends drove over to our home and led us in our automobile to Germany to spend some time with my sister. The convenience of following these friends was that they were staying for a month vacation and had filled their car with necessities. It was late at night when we left and dark as the sun had already gone to sleep, the baby was tired and also sleeping before we left. I drove my sisters little ‘beater’ Honda – it was good we were young and sort of dumb as a wiser adult would be smarter than putting their neck at risk in this tin can! However, we drove multiple hours before almost getting to the Germany base; our friends needed gas and we all stopped to fill up the tank. As we were about to drive out of the parking lot my ‘tin can’ gave out a loud howl and a big puff of smoke from the back. That was the bad news; the good news is the baby remained asleep. We were in a heck of a place; near by spectators gathered including this kind motorcycle gang that had observed the explosion and came over to advise us, they were kind enough to remind us that so early in the morning no car shops were open. After chatting and just about crying, we got to the fact that my sister was on the Air Force base – fortunately we were only 20 miles from there. Unfortunately, somebody with a base i.d. needed to go to get my sister and inform her that we were stranded, as I was the sole owner of a base identification I was the only one who could get access to the base and the ability to get a hold of my sister; our friends had no room in their car for myself and the baby and were not particularly thrilled at the thought of driving us to then back from the base. So, in drop the kind motorcyclists; we decided that I would ride with a motorcyclist and we would follow our friends to the base, they had pushed enough of their car goods to the side to fit in my niece. So, there I was riding with the strange motorcycle guy following the friends’ car with my niece packed in like a sardine. We finally found my sister, who recruited a local friend to drive us back to the car the next day and get it fixed. She thought it was so funny and had to bring this memory to my wrist with the silver charm that reminded her of the black leather wrist guards with metal spikes the biker dude wore. If you look close at my silver charm with the black bead, it does closely resemble those leather wrist guards with metal spikes!! Again, to be young and trusting.

The other silver bead with the red dangle bead is given to help commemorate a memory and a situation. We had gone to Amsterdam for the day, drove that ‘tin can’ car again into the city. The three of us had a lovely day of walking all over the city, taking a boat tour down the river that runs through the city and learning all about the neat facts of this European gathering. For example, on top of the building you can notice a pulley system, this is to hoist furniture up into the upper floors because the stairs are too narrow (fun fact). Anyway, our day was packed full of tourism events; for fun we had to check out the Red Light District, its infamous for the almost nude to very nude woman displayed in the windows for potential men to ‘enjoy’. Those women are very real and very good at posing like manikins. We were naïve and walked right up to one of those huge windows – which are basically six feet by six feet – and put our noses to the glass as we debated on the ‘manikin’ and how pretty and real it looked. Without even noticing - the real manikin quickly changed her pose and had her nose in front of ours on the other side of this looking glass. We screamed to high heaven and sprinted off laughing so hard we virtually peed ourselves and ran out of breath. Be warned if you go to Amsterdam: the women are real, not manikins, and the brownies are ‘enhanced’! Anyhow, my sister put this charm under my pillow a couple weeks later with a memo accounting that now I am a red light district groupie. The day of course did not end that easily; we got back to our car and noticed the wheel was booted because we had violated a parking code, so we had to find a vehicle place to pay our fine before the boot would be removed. We ended up walking half a mile and asked everybody we ran into (which is a lot in a large city) to point us in the right direction by displaying our ticket. We eventually arrived, paid our large fine and had the wheel boot removed to be freed to return to our small townhouse outside of the Red Light District and Amsterdam.

The final sterling silver bead with the clear bead was also gifted to me via my sister while living together. We had gone to Brugge, Belgian to visit the town and see how handmade lace is made, which is what Brugge is known for. Again we had a nice time visiting all the little lace shops and purchasing some souvenirs for ourselves. We toured the school where older women made all the lace by hand. What an intricate dance of pins and stools of thread interweaved on a large pin-cushion looking template. To observe ten fingers dancing around those stools of thread to create something so delicate is pure miracle and skill. It’s like watching a kaleidoscope develop into a form and then get fuzzy again before the ultimate creation is revealed. I remember picking out an ‘A’ for my name Ann, my sister was older and more sophisticated, she purchased multiple pieces for her home to display her other worldly possessions that she had collected in her multiple travels on the world. My collection was so fresh and new and small, I was pleased with that. My sister had then thought a ‘traveling bead’ would suit me well and gave me this one, the clear color was to resemble the lace in Brugge that we had just witnessed being born. I have to say that my sister is an articulate and sentimental gal; she always seemed to come up with the perfect explanation for each bead and hook a story to it – what a great blessing this has been for my memory and emotions.

The finale of our ‘family affair’ was the day I left them to return to the states and head back to college after a two year time period of living with my sister and my niece. We all had so many emotions of separation yet feeling ready to go on solo. We were in the Netherlands airport hanging out, nervously trying to squeeze out the last moments of our time with each other, while one eye was on the clock and one ear on the overhead awaiting that Final Call to board the plane. I had to exit and use the women’s restroom, I left my bag with my family and off I went. I returned and there holding my bag was my niece and in the other hand was a small box that I instantly recognized. My sister gave me a huge hug and began to cry – through her tears, and sobs she explained that my presence has been a blessing and a savior to her and her daughter. I could not have agreed more, I retaliated with my own explanation that they saved me from a life imprisonment in a small town without the potential of exit; they gave me the biggest gift of leaving everything I had known to date and had given me new beliefs in myself, God, and life in general. I picked up my niece and we opened the box together, inside was an Angel Bead – an Angel bead, what a perfection of a life together. I have that bead right in the middle of my bracelet because it is the substance that has laid the foundation of my adult life and all that I have achieved, and have yet to achieve. I still reference my niece as ‘my first child, now that I am raising my own child it’s fitting to have an older ‘sibling’.

That is the emotional and humorous story of some of my beads.

-Ann S.