National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo)

Tell us the story of a piece of jewelry you own. Where did it come from, and what does it mean to you?

My wedding band belonged to my grandmother. My grandparents were married for 55 years and died 6 weeks apart from each other in 1996. My grandmother had ALS, but we didn't know that was the cause of her illness until the day before she died.

She was a fun woman full of spunk and eye for fashion. I didn't know that her hair was gray until I was in my late teens, because she always dyed it black. I continue this tradition, but dye my hair blond as it is easier maintenance. Vanity may be hereditary. My grandma was a terrible cook and she made no claims to be otherwise. My grandpa used to say she could burn water. They were such a cute couple and loved each other very much. My grandpa took care of her and lived to please her.

She always wanted a pet, but my grandpa didn't want one, because they traveled so much, so instead she started feeding a baby alligator from the canal behind their home in Florida. She gave it marshmallows and called it "baby", but Baby got big and one day came up to the back door and scared my grandma to death. That was the end of her alligator feeding.

My grandma had two wedding bands. The first was the original a simple yellow gold 14K band, the second was a blinged out diamond encrusted band. When my grandma died my grandpa gave the first band to me (the oldest granddaughter) and the diamond band to my cousin. This describes the differences between myself and my cousin completely. I wore the band on a gold chain around my neck until the day I got married and my husband placed it on my hand in 2003. We had our initials and our wedding date engraved inside. I didn't have to have it re sized or anything, it fit perfectly on my hand . It means so much to me to have this ring and have a symbol of my grandparents love for each other with me always.

One day maybe I will have a daughter to pass this ring on to, and if not it will go to my eldest niece.