One of my favorite things to do is open all the drawers (that I can reach) in Mom’s jewelry chest (that my Great Uncle Skip made!) and pull out all the bracelets. I pick two and put one on each arm. Then I walk around the house with my arms up like this so they don’t fall off. But don’t—and I repeat don’t—stretch the stretchy ones. It’s hard, really hard not to because you can make them stretch so much. But that’s the problem. You eventually stretch them too much and then they break and beads go flying everywhere! (I find this hilarious. Mom, however, does not.) Thankfully my grandma knows how to fix broken bracelets.
“Not on one strand are all life’s jewels strung.” —William Morris