Now That's a Special Pandora Bracelet!

My charm bracelet story starts with my mother, who got into the ‘Pandora’ hobby about a year and a half ago. She was pretty excited about it, and always had a new bead to show me (with a story to go along with it) whenever we met up.

Sometime in the first quarter of last year my mother told me that one of my Christmas presents (which was still like nine months away!) was going to be a Pandora bracelet, with a few beads to go with it. It was at that point that I took it upon myself to go online and take a look at what all of this Pandora madness was about. Of course, I was instantly hooked!

It was around this same time period that I met and fell in love with my husband, John. The first two beads I purchased (way before I even had the chain!) were the gold and silver initial beads – the letters ‘J’ for my husband John, and ‘L’ for me (Leah). I also purchased the four leaf clover bead, symbolizing the luck that brought John and I together. Since the bracelet is separated into three sections, I planned on putting the initial beads and the four leaf clover bead together in a ‘John and Leah’ area of the bracelet, and I decided that another area of the bracelet would be for things I love in my life and/or things that symbolize who I am. So the next two beads I purchased were the doggie bead (we have two bratty little dogs), and the music note dangle bead. Music has always been an integral part of my life and soul. The last bead I purchased was the bead star with CZ. There was no special reason for purchasing this last bead; it just really caught my eye.
So now I’ve got all of these beads, and no place to put them!  I hung onto them for the better part of the year, just waiting and waiting for Christmas to come so that I could finally put all of the beads together and get to wear my bracelet all the time!

Christmas was hectic in 2007. My parents and sister were down in Florida and John and I spent Christmas Eve and Day in a mini-motor home traveling down to Key West to get married. We were married on December 27th, 2007. My parents, his parents, and my sister were all there to share the moment with us.

So I didn’t get my bracelet until New Year’s Eve, but it was worth the wait (for more reasons than one!). My Christmas present included the Pandora bracelet, and a dolphin bead and ‘money bags’ bead. I’ve loved dolphins since I was a little girl (I have one tattooed on my stomach!), so that bead was just a given that I would have to have it. Dolphins to me symbolize the all of the beauty, grace and freedom that nature has to offer. The ‘money bags’ charm is kind of a family joke – I love to live like I’m Miss Money Bags, even though I’m usually not.
Since New Year’s, I’ve added the sea shell bead and the infinity bead to the area of my bracelet dedicated to John and I. The sea shell bead is very special because it symbolizes where we got married (next to the ocean in Key West). I love the ocean and all it represents, and I love John and all that we represent, so now I have a bead to look at that represents all of it together! The infinity bead stands for the commitment John and I made when we got married.

My birthday is coming up on March 8th, and John has already given me part of my present early, to help me complete the ‘John and I’ section of my bracelet. Yesterday I got the ‘Key to My Heart’ bead! That was the final missing piece.

My mother also told me that for my birthday she’s giving me the kitty bead, for the two beautiful, bratty cats in our life (in addition to our two dogs – we have a full house here!). I’m excited about that bead too – I really needed the kitty to balance out the doggie – I was worried that Chloe and Snickers might think they’re not loved enough!
I also most recently purchased the ‘binding beauty’ bead for myself; I loved the real pink sapphires in it, and it starts off the bracelet as the “beauty that binds everything the bracelet symbolizes in my life together”.
I might have to take my spacer clips out soon so I can fit more beads onto my bracelet. I wear it every day and I receive compliments on it from a variety of people, including my 80 year old grandpa, who noticed it without me even bringing it up. Now that’s a special bracelet!

Leah H
Green Bay, WI