Pearls For A Gypsy

    I have always loved pearls.  As a little girl I would take costume jewelry and put the necklaces in layers around my neck and walk around the house in my "pearls".  Nothing seems impossible when you're a kid.  A single tree in your back yard becomes a jungle.  Mud becomes tasty filling for a pie.  Rocks become jewels and every pointy one is obviously an arrow head used by Indians long ago.  It's as we get older that the possibility that things can in fact be impossible sets in.  We realize that the tree is much smaller than it used to look.  Those necklaces I wore with pride went from being precious to being forgotten.

   I have a real set of pearls now.  My best friend gave them to me as a gift for being her Matron of Honor.  They are tucked away in the box that they came in and occasionally I will wear them on a date with Matt.  So, how is it that something I adored as a child and dreamed of now sets in the back of a drawer? I finally got the real thing, but somehow I feel that they are too fragile to enjoy. It's ironic how things turn out, isn't it?  We dream and yearn for things, but once we achieve that goal, get that thing, or find that perfect relationship we settle into a state of complacency. 

   I chose the name "Pearls For A Gypsy" originally because I love pearls and have traveled a lot.  The more I think on the phrase, though, I find a deeper meaning in it.  Perhaps it's to convey the fact that we wander from one thing to another.  We aim for this goal and that one.  We yearn for one prized possession after another. Maybe you have something in your life that has gone unappreciated- something that is lying in a drawer collecting dust while you are collecting more things.  I'm not speaking of material things, but things of greater value- friendships, relationships, dreams, and aspirations.  Things that have come into your grasp and into your life, but aren't being appreciated.

   We are meant to enjoy those rare "pearls"- to fully be thankful for them.  I'm going to take mine out of their boxes now and wear them with innocent childlike gratitude.