Generous Pandora Gift Giving

I can’t believe all of the Pandora beads I have received for my bracelet. Everyone has been so generous in their gift giving.

I received the clear bright orange ribbon bead from one of my girlfriends after my high school graduation ceremony. After the ceremony we were all talking, hugging and crying in the cafeteria telling each other how we couldn’t believe graduation had come and went. I will miss my friends so much. My friend pulled out a box from under her black gown and gave it to me. She told me this bead was a memento of our friendship. It happened to have been this colorful bead. It was very fitting because my high school colors are orange and black, and we have a tiger for our mascot. My friend wanted me to remember all the memories we made in high school. She told me that I should look at it and remember all the times we dressed in orange and black for the basketball and football games, borrowing each other’s clothing. We would paint our entire faces in these colors also. The bead is filled with sports memories for me, and even memories of the clubs I was involved with and the friends I made in our Tiger school.

My mom gave me the captivating purple glass bead. I love how dark the purple is on the bead. It contrasts well with my orange ribbon bead. She said the bead reminded her of the time I painted my room. I was begging to paint my room for a couple months and my mom finally gave in, thinking that twelve was an ok age to be able to handle this project. So she let me pick out the paint color and my favorite color at that time was purple, not a light purple either but a dark one. My mom thought I should be able paint it the color of my choosing, because I convinced her it is the place I call home and no one else should care what it looks like. So after the walls were painted and my room was decorated, I acted like I was happy with the color and enjoyed showing all my family and friends the new look. But a few years later, I decided to admit that I hated the way it turned out. I thought my room was like a dungeon and after that I no longer liked purple paint. I will never again paint a room purple even if my own child would request it. I didn’t want to admit to my mother that she was right about the color being too dark at that time. When she saw this bead she thought it was pretty and that it would look amazing on my Pandora bracelet. I just wish I could get more purple beads for my bracelet.

The brown captivating murano bead was given to me from another friend. The bead looks great next to the purple glass one on my bracelet. I love the glass beads so much. They look great scattered around the silver and gold beads. My friend told the story about my love of chocolate and how the bead reminded her of this. My friends always know they need to buy extra chocolate bars when we go camping because a lot of times I eat them without the graham crackers and marshmallows and without anyone knowing. They call me the sneak. She recalled the first time this happened; when they made a campfire, started roasting the marshmallows and getting the graham crackers ready for s’mores. They all started to look through the paper bags for the chocolate bars, which they couldn’t find anywhere. They then noticed the slight smile on my face. She said it was like I was caught with my hand in the cookie jar. They knew right away from that look on my face that the chocolate must have been eaten, and it was probably eaten by me. They didn’t have any chocolate for the s’mores! My mother loves to tell her story also about my love of chocolate. It happened when I was about two and just starting to put sentences together. I gave my mother a kiss and a hug before bedtime, and I said to her, “Smell chocolate.” My mother had snuck a piece of chocolate without me knowing about a half hour earlier and I was able to smell it on her breath. It was so funny that I could place the smell at that age. I guess she should have known right then that I would be a chocolate lover. She could no longer sneak things without me knowing and this chocolate brown bead will always represent this.

My brother gave me the acorn bead with the 14K gold top on it. I was so happy to receive a bead with gold on it. I know this is a more expensive bead, but I think it is well worth it. It is so genuine. The story my brother brought up about this bead came from the times he used to tease me and tell me that if I planted an acorn it would grow into a big acorn tree. One day he found me outside with a pail full of acorns and a shovel. I planted a hill of acorns and watered them daily. Of course nothing grew, but for an entire year I would make sure my mother was careful when she mowed the lawn not to go over that hill of acorns. My brother would laugh and tell other people how gullible I was. I even thought one time that something was actually starting to grow, but then I found out later it was only a tall weed. I still need to get back at him for that trick he played on me. I can’t believe even my mother went along with his acorn story, and didn’t tell me otherwise. I guess it was something that kept me busy that summer. I look back on this and think how other people must have thought I was crazy, but now I have this bead so it makes that memorable time worth it.

- Sandy H.