#vintage charm bracelet

This was my jewelry box when I was a little girl. It is lined with aqua silk and when I opened it, which I did A LOT, it played music. My daughter has googled it (yes you can google a song) and she has identified it as an excerpt from a Strauss waltz.

When I was about 6 years old, Daddy was part of a legal team that went to Washington DC in the interest of their client. I was way too young to be concerned with why he was going, but I remember being concerned for him, while he was traveling so far away from us and home. I assumed that Daddy, who after all had been in Australia and the South Pacific during the Second World War, was as concerned about making this long trip safely as I was. As he was packing I got a sudden idea. I raced across the hall to my room and brought him my small Calvary Cross. This is the name for a bare cross that has three steps at its base. It had been given to me the previous Christmas by my grandparents. I kept it on my dresser and after the bedroom light was turned off, I took comfort from its faint purplish glow. “Keep this in your room and then at night you will have the light,” I told him thinking that I was reassuring him.

Daddy solemnly thanked me and tucked the cross into his suitcase.

The story that he later told was that he was sharing his hotel room with another lawyer. This man was Catholic and was astonished to see a cross that was not only not a crucifix but that glowed in the dark. He was probably also surprised to see that my father, who had been hired by the law firm as a tough minded litigator, was prepared to faithfully follow the directions given to him by a little girl!

Daddy brought us all souvenirs of his trip and mine was this little charm bracelet which features small representations of the capitol building, the Washington Monument and the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials. This was not the only “jewelry” that my music box eventually contained, but it became the central piece of my collection.