The Necklace

by Renee Hawkley

It was painful to pull the little grey cocoon of towel lint out of the dryer and discover that it was the earthly remains of a treasured necklace . . . the necklace that displayed the birthstones of our children and had been a gift to me from our daughter, Jill. Now, it was ruined due to my careless mistake.

I placed it on a dresser, promising to make an attempt at recovery later. Later became a year, maybe two. In the meantime, I often felt pangs of regret and sadness as I glanced at the tiny wad of matted silver in passing.

One day, I decided I had suffered long enough. It was time to see if some small part of the necklace could be salvaged. I gathered a few tools . . . a magnifying glass, a piece of black velvet to serve as "a jeweler's background," and a pair of needle-nosed tweezers . . . and went to work.

I was encouraged when the tight grip of the tangles loosened ever so slightly to my gentle urgings. I was disappointed to learn that several of the stones were missing and then elated to find both ends of the necklace with clasp and clasp receiver intact. A few more overs, unders, arounds and throughs, and the truth lay before me. The delicate chain was free and unbroken.

The process had taken less than an hour instead of the four I had budgeted. Luckily, the replacement stones were still being sold and were easily replaced.

I hope to wear my beautiful, restored necklace for many years to come, but there's more. I learned something.

Next time I get stuck in guilt after making one of those big or small mistakes that are common to my species, I'm not going to punish myself so long before deciding on a plan of action and taking the first step forward. Because, as it turns out, the first step forward doubles as the first step away from yearning to go back and change the unchangeable.