I'm a Charm Newbie

I remember having a charm bracelet in my young childhood, but alas, it has been lost a long time.  I thought I would take the opportunity to tell my life story.

Well, it all began six weeks earlier than expected – I was born an identical twin on November 13, 1961 (the #7758 Twins Stork charm), the last of four girls, to wonderful parents and we lived in Oxford, Mississippi.  (#2943 the Mississippi Riverboat charm).  Although we didn’t live on the Mississippi River, I always dreamed of living by the river and I always loved to see it every chance I got.   It held a mystical fascination for me at a quite young age.  I loved bridges, and the highways that would take me to them.

Being one of two babies, Mother always looked after my twin sister, and my father always looked after me.  He taught me how to grease a tractor, haul hay, follow his every footstep, and yes, how to fish.  So I chose Charm #6584, the fisherman charm, to reflect his love for me.  But, he also taught me how to have faith in the One above, and that we are to be “fishers of men” – so this charm also has a dual meaning to it.

Things moved along normally in my life.  I went through my school years, graduated high school, and married my high school sweetheart, but it only lasted three years.  I then married again, but it was a very rocky relationship cumbered with alcohol and deep physical abuse.  I learned at that point that I was a survivor and strong and that I would always have a guardian angel watching over me.  I literally got out of the marriage alive (for which I’m truly thankful) and I met a wonderful man who adopted the two beautiful daughters I had, but, alas, that did not work either.  But, he is wonderful to my daughters who are now 21 and 27; so, I picked charm #6537, the Angel with the heart.  This represents the fact that I will always have an angel with me, but that I am never giving up on love either.  I’m a hopeless romantic.

As I mentioned, I had two beautiful daughters, and my oldest daughter has given me a beautiful granddaughter who is now 6.   I picked charm #2422, the Celtic Circle of Life to represent myself, and my three beautiful girls in my life.  My wish is for us all to be intertwined in each other’s hearts and lives as represented in this charm.

I started college at 31 and found myself wanting more than the life I had as a paralegal for 16 years.  And, as fate would have it, my early love for highways and bridges resurfaced and I found myself working for the Mississippi Department of Transportation in the Right of Way Division helping to acquire new rights of way for more highways and bridges!  And, since I now spent a lot of my days driving over the highways and bridges in Southwest Mississippi, in my Chevrolet Equinox, I choose charm #3749, the sport utility vehicle.  Also, my husband, Walter, works for MDOT as an Engineering Technician in road construction – it’s just something that we share.

It seems like everything in my life somehow comes full circle, and, as fate would have it, that old guardian angel of my heart was watching and decided it was time for me to have my soul mate in life.  At the age of 38, I met Walter, 20 years my senior, and of all things, a former Riverboat Captain on the Mississippi River and a former Ocean Master Mariner captain, and I chose charm #1584, the Ship Wheel, to represent my love for him.  We married on March 31, 2001, and I moved down to Natchez, Mississippi – right on the Mississippi River!    I was in heaven!

Well, Walter believes in me like no other man.  He always tells me that I can do anything that I want and he encourages me to try new things.  On Valentine’s Day in 2004, he gave me watercolor lessons at our neighborhood community college.  Since then, I have switched to oil painting and it is now a part of my soul, so I picked charm #0800, the Palette painted charm.

Walter and I married March 31, 2001 and in December, 2001, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer.  He went through three surgeries, radiation treatment, and anti-hormone treatment, and it has been almost 5 years now that he has been totally cancer free.  I stood by him and believed in him and took care of him – and he’s a strong tough survivor.  So, I picked charm #3801, the Relay for Life, Purple Ribbon charm to stand for our love together and the fact that cancer did not conquer our relationship.

On our first wedding anniversary,  he gave me a beautiful little 7-week old Pekinese puppy, our first “baby” together.  Willy was the start of another chapter.  We could never have children of our own, but we shared a great love for dogs.  We now have three wonderful outside dogs, and four beautiful Pekinese.  We raise beautiful little CKC Pekinese puppies as part of our life – and we have a house full of “ babies” so I picked charm #0307, Dog, Pekinese to show our love for our babies.

And I’m a newbie, so I also picked out three additional charms that can fit on my 8” bracelet, -- #0867 the Four Leaf Clover Charm, #3698 the Dream Catcher Charm, and #0716, the Lighthouse Charm.

I look forward to acquiring these additional charms for my bracelet, and tell you the wonderful stories of how I received each and every one!

Sharen Willis
Natchez, MS