In Which I Workshop a Scene from Dickens
You know what turns out not to be a scam? All those ads, mall kiosks, and We Buy Gold storefronts you've been seeing. They're legit.
For nearly a year, I've been lugging around all my 'good' jewelry in a big, doubled baggie at the bottom of my purse. Why the hesitation? On the one hand, I couldn't imagine getting more than chump change for the accumulation of a lifetime, so why not keep it for Miss Thing? On the other, disbelief at the prospect of having to do something so downright Dickensian. Something so cliched. Thinking about it actually made me laugh at the ridiculousness of my life. What's next: selling my blood?!
But, last week, the question settled itself; try to sell the bling-baggie or lose my life insurance policy. I've already lost my bar membership with its $300 annual fee. (God knows I'll never pass the exam again but it will cost me $800 each time to try. The ridiculousness of this, too, makes me laugh.) So, consigning my scant finery to the fiery furnace (they melt it all down) is a no-brainer; it comforts me more than I can convey to know I'm worth more to them dead than alive. There is just no way I'll leave them destitute and motherless.
So, they cavorted while I watched "Sue", the sweet young thing below scrape and weigh and just take her work so seriously it broke my heart. 
At 24, she's been married for three years. "Oh no! No kids yet. I said at 25, by that's just six months away..." She paused to collect her thoughts. "You know sometimes? I love him to death but..."
I'm the last person on the planet to give relationship advice, so I just nodded and smiled.
OK, one piece of advice: "Definitely, don't short shrift your friends and family, OK?" Because they'll be the ones picking you up when YOUR MARRIAGE TURNS OUT TO HAVE BEEN A BIG, HUGE, HONKING, SOUL-DESTROYING, YOUTH-STEALING, CAREER-ENDING MISTAKE OF EPIC PROPORTIONS! AND DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT HAVE HIS CHILDREN WHEN YOU'RE STILL HAVING DOUBTS AND IT'S NOT TOO LATE FOR A POST-NUP AND*&^())**&^&_)*&^%^%%%%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!GODDAMN MOTHERFUC*&^%!!!!!!!!!!MAYBE YOU CAN STILL ANNUL?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But, I didn't say that last part. Just the friends and family thing.
She finished her assaying, offered me enough to keep the life insurance for another six months and to see Toy Story III to boot! Yippee!!
So, there was nothing left for it but to wave bye-bye to the Turkish gold bracelets the kids received as baby gifts. The lovely gold earrings my gay boyfriend gave me as a consolation/coming-out prize. The exotic accoutrements I bought myself as I traveled the world in the 80s and 90s. 
Got to keep the scam-bangle from Hydra that turned out to be either not gold, or unsalable as less than 10 carat. Can't remember which.
My Cyprus charm. It clocked in at 18 carats but I decided not to part with it.
This was given to me on a trip from Ankara, Turkey to Cyprus in 1990 or so. I was with a group of extremely ugly Americans who embarrassed me at every turn, and the above boyfriend who was soon to come out as gay . Not a great trip.
So, I peeled off from the both of them and wandered about on my own. An exceedingly handsome young Cypriot owned a charming jewelry shop I wandered into and we just gobsmacked each other. Speechless and staring and blushing; the whole schmear. Finally, he managed to say, "I dreamed last night that an...American woman would...I can't remember all the details now..."
I waited until he stopped stammering, thought of my gay boyfriend back in our room and, with all the Jessica Rabbit I could muster said," I guess that makes me your dream girl."
There was a lot more but the bottom line is: I won't part with my Cyprus charm.
The only remaining question: do I sell my wedding/engagement ring and the jewelry I've only worn at said wedding? How about my wedding dress? They have zero sentimental value to me, but perhaps to my daughter when she's older?
Still jobless, perhaps circumstances will answer those questions for me as well.
Posted by Debra J Dickerson at 7/5/2010 9:51 AM 
Categories: Hydra, Cyprus, gold, jewelry, poverty, bar exam, life insurance
Categories: Hydra, Cyprus, gold, jewelry, poverty, bar exam, life insurance
I grew up with parents who often had to pawn things, sell blood you get the picture. My Mum's original ring was sold and later on my Pops got her another one, nothing fancy but it was hers. They were married 33 yrs till she passed 6 yrs ago and her ring went to me. I understand struggling and my advice is pick 1 item save it for your girl and sell the rest. Survival is the name of the game, I lost my own wedding dress when I relocated and left it in a storage locker. It'd be nice to one day have it for my daughter but its not the end of the world.
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