Lobo said I should put my fingers on the keys and just let ‘em go so…..that’s what I did.  

It wouldn’t be anything I was gonna share anyways, so what the heck?

Just needed to begin…..to get that lost connection goin’ again that sends the feelings in my heart up to my brain and turned into thoughts and then down into my fingertips and on to the keyboard where they become words.  

So, I wrote about what was going on right then,  but first a bit of a history of why it was going on…..

Jewelry…..it captures my gypsy soul.    

Earrings…..different and big, rings, bracelets, necklaces, whatever, I love it all.   

And, I love wearing it all.

So I never gave a thought to the idea that maybe I couldn’t wear my jewelry to work.  

I DID tone it down to just earrings and  a few rings…..well, I wore pins too but I wore them inside the lapel of my lab jacket and shared their humor with only certain worker-friends….they weren’t up front for everyone to see.  

You can guess why.

Nothing was ever said.

Who cared?

It was the midnight shift…..much more relaxed than either of the other two shifts and no big shots around to care.

I was hired for the Intensive/Cardiac Care Units when I began at our local Community Hospital.

Only because there were no Emergency Room openings at the time.

I didn’t like working the Units…..too many machines and too much sadness.

ER was more my fit…..an entire staff of high energy, kinda crazy people.

From big Harley guys who practically crawled into the ER passing a kidney stone to little children screaming with high fevers, we were their first contact and we put out their fires.

We stabilized and they either went home or were admitted but no one stayed in ER long enough for me to become attached.

Treat ‘em & Street ‘em…..that’s what we did.

Each time an ER Nurse would bring a patient to the Unit for admit,  I’d ask the same question…..”any openings down there?”

And one night, the answer was “YES!” 

I filled out a TRANSFER SLIP during my lunch break and handed it to the midnight Supervisor when she came through the unit. 

A few days later I met with the ER Supervisor and after my interview, I was invited to join the ER staff but…..I couldn’t wear my earrings.

Ohh!

Hmm!

No, I couldn’t do that.

In today’s world, of course I wouldn’t even attempt to argue but this didn’t happen in today’s world, it happened in my nursing world when so many rules hadn’t been established yet. 

The Supervisor listened to my reasoning…..my sales pitch, and then scheduled a meeting with the other decision makers.

Their big concern was one of legal responsibility….but of course!

The hospital would be responsible for any injury caused to my ears during working hours.

I agreed to sign a waiver and then, just like THAT…..I was the new ER nurse.   

Anyways, what’s that thing they say when you get off the track with telling a story? 

I digress? 

Well I just did!

Back on track and moving on…..

It didn’t take long for ER patients who came in scared, in pain and crying to kinda stop for a moment when they saw my earrings. 

Taking vital signs was a lot easier when my patients were quiet and staring at my earlobes instead of rolling around on the gurney.  

And crying little ones?

The danglers from my ears could stop those pathetic falling tears in a heartbeat.  

If I felt confident that they wouldn’t pull at them, I’d let them touch the earrings. 

They’d become kinda mesmerized and forget for a teeny bit where they were. 

Every now and then I’d hear someone asking to be seen by the nurse with the funny earrings.

And then I began getting gifts…..other nurses, EMT’s, friends from other departments and even patients would bring me earrings.  

The helicopter EMT’s gave me a pair of large, pink plastic helicopters with blue  chopper blades that really went around.  

They dangled to my shoulders.

Someone went to France once and brought me back a pair of toilets and the red lids really opened up (they didn’t flush!!)

Oh, and the best ones ever, were wrapped and disguised condoms, REAL condoms!

(My protective earrings!)

In the kind of world this has become with almost anything anyone says pulled apart and criticized, let me say this…..

I worked with great nurses and docs.  

When we worked, trust me, we worked hard AND WE CARED but even in an ER (remember this was long ago) there were times we could actually stop.  

We talked, laughed even shared a bowl of popcorn from time to time.

And for what we did each night, to be able to stop now and then and maybe laugh at what was dangling from my earlobes was a good thing.

Over my time in the ER, my collection became large and when I stopped working ER, I put all the silly jewelry away in a box…..a pink box with a handle on top. 

I think they used to be called train cases?

Lobo had it personalized on the top, around the flowers is written “Momsmoms Treasures”.

I have one granddaughter, Sweet Sierra and when she was a little girl she loved playing with all the jewelry in the box.  

But, eventually she outgrew it and her attention went to something more fun to look at and play with than my jewelry…..BOYS!

Eventually I found spot in the closet and there my fun-jewelry lived.

Now, it’s all these years later.  

A few weeks ago on a day I had some unusual energy, I decided to TRY to make some sense of my “nothing” closet in my “nothing” room.  

(You know, the room where you toss in anything and everything and just shut the door!)

I pulled out the pink train case, opened it and all the fun memories were there, looking up at me.

I decided they needed to be out of that box and I had an idea.

I approached my sweet husband who has always listened to every quirky, off-the-wall idea I’ve ever had and asked, if he was up for a challenge.  

How could he say NO, right?

I was kinda surprised when he actually liked the idea and so we began.

We brought in the 8 foot fold-up table from the garage and set it up in the living room…..yep, right in the living room!

Then we dragged the big ugly floor-lamp from the nothing room and put it next to the table.

And yep he’s got a well-lit garage and a work bench but, that’s no fun…..him out there, me in here. 

Who cares, right? It’s OUR living room!

Next we emptied the case and a mound of old memories fell out onto the table.

Shopping, the part we thought was gonna be a bit of a challenge was easy.

We found the perfect 30” X 36” wood framed mirror with an inlaid border exactly as we were visualizing.

And finally the glue.  

We researched on the internet, asked at a few craft shops and it was unanimous, E6000.

And the project began.

Each piece was carefully placed and replaced in the insert until the perfect fit was found.

It was like a puzzle taking shape and turning out awesome ….what a great job he’s doing.

I had no idea when we began this project that it would grow to become magic to me.  

Every single piece transports me back to a time when all the stuff I thought were problems, weren’t!

It’s a different world today.

But that table full of jewelry reminds me of a warm, wonderful once-upon-a time.   

Each piece holds a memory from when they dangled from my ears and for a moment made scared people FORGET AND SMILE.  

And the mirror?

It’s not quite done yet.

But Melissa has already seen it and marveled at all the memories it brought back to her.  

She’s also “put dibs on it” if no one wants it.

But I want it!

I want to put it on my wall somewhere so that each day I’ll be reminded and no matter what’s going on in my life, for a moment I’ll FORGET AND SMILE.