Pandora Treats for Me

When I received some money from my Mom and Dad for my birthday I knew just how I would treat myself.  I thought I would purchase some, much needed, Pandora beads for my charm bracelet.  When I started to look at the different choices I knew I had to purchase the house bead.  My house is a big part of my life and I purchased it several years ago kind of on a whim.  It was the first house I looked at and when I saw the house, I knew it would fit my life perfectly.  It was a small house right in town, close to a grocery store and my workplace.  I even ride my bike to work when the weather is nice.  This bead looks like my house except I do not have a chimney.  I always think of the words of this song when I think of my house, “Love grows best in little houses, few walls to separate…”   It is a country song sung by Doug Stone.  I like my little house, but may have to upgrade once I start a family and settle down.

I also bought the teddy bear bead because it reminds me of my old stuffed teddy bear, Madge, that I grew up with when I was young.  I used to take Madge wherever I went.  If I went to sleepover at my Grandma’s I had to have Madge with me, or if I went somewhere with my mom, Madge had to be buckled in my seat with me.  I’ll never forget the time we were in church and I had the biggest meltdown because Madge was not with me.  I guess I forgot him at home or in the car.  My dad took me out of church and spanked me.  He didn’t realize how much this teddy bear meant to me.  He was my best friend for many years.  When we got out of church there was Madge stuck in the car door.  I didn’t know it but I must have had him in my hands when I was getting out of the car and then I dropped him and he got stuck in the door.  At that time I felt bad for Madge because he was all dirty and wet.  I am not sure where Madge is now.  I am sure he is in some resting place for teddy bears.  My mom must have gotten rid of him on some occasion when I didn’t expect it.  I asked about him a few times, but didn’t get any real answers.  Then he slowly slipped out of my mind.  I guess that is how the mind works when you are a child.  So now I will call this charm on my bracelet Madge in honor of my long lost teddy bear.

My friend bought me the big smooth heart bead as a joke for my birthday, because I always tell her how I do not like things that have hearts on them.  She always seems to think I should wear heart pendants, t-shirts or decorate my entire house with heart trees and lights like she does.  It bothers her that I will never purchase these things and I laugh at her when she does. I think I have been broken up with one too many times on or around Valentine’s Day to do this.  February 14th is the day I hate the most.  She said she meant to buy me the bead for Valentine’s Day, but had not had a chance to order it, so she gave it to me for my birthday present instead.  I like the bead because there was thought involved in picking it out and it makes me laugh when I see it; even though I truly do not like hearts.

My boyfriend gave me the lots of love charm for my birthday which was kind of funny.  I wasn’t really sure what he had planned for my birthday because he asked what I was wanting for a present and I told him I didn’t have any idea and he should surprise me.  So I went to work like any other day, except it was my birthday.  When I got there, I opened my purse to put my keys inside and found a wrapped box, the size for jewelry it seemed.  When I got into my office that morning I closed the door and opened the card and gift.  ON the card he wrote me a poem and inside the box was the heart charm.  I couldn’t believe he had snuck the gift inside of my purse.  His sneakiness and charm put a tear in my eye.  I had to call him right away to thank him and tell him how much I liked it.  I guess I haven’t told him about my fixation with hearts yet.  It didn’t matter, the charm looks nice on my bracelet and matches the heart my friend gave me.  Hopefully he will never find out about my dislike of hearts, or maybe I should tell him before I get a heart pendant.  That would be truly disappointing.    

My boyfriend also gave me the dolphin bead because he knows how much I would like to swim with dolphins.  He gave it to me after our unromantic meal at Applebees.  We didn’t have a lot of time so we thought we would go there on the night of my birthday and then go for a romantic meal some weekend evening when we have more time.  I have watched several Discovery Channel shows about dolphins and what friendly animals they are.  I always make him watch these shows with me.  One time I was in Mexico and decided it was too expensive to swim with the dolphins, so I did not do it.  After returning home, I wished so much that I had done it because I didn’t know when I would have the chance again.  So hopefully in the future, my boyfriend and I will go somewhere where I will get the chance to swim and interact with the dolphins.  Maybe we will elope somewhere where this will be possible.  I had better start dropping hints about this wish very soon.

-Judy Heeg