I have owned it now for about 12 years.  It was a gift for my birthday, a very special gift for a very special birthday.  No, it wasn’t my 50th, or 60th, or 70th or any significant date like that.  It was my birthday several years after having weight loss surgery.  Just to set the dates straight I had surgery on May 28, 2004 and my birthday is on September 15th.  It’s not the date that is significant.  It is all about the necklace.

I had lost 250 pounds in about 27 months after having surgery.  I was swimming, bicycling, walking and LIVING and LOVING my new life.  So much had changed so rapidly all around me.  I had been officially kicked out of Lane Bryant and The Avenue since their clothes were too big for me.  I was shopping in the junior department of stores for some of my clothes.  I looked forward to waking up each day in this new body with this new attitude.  I was attending all of the weight loss surgery based events all over the country, thrilled to be able to travel by air with no seat belt extender, diving in Hawaii and Antigua, proud to look at ME in the mirror having earned every bit of saggy skin that I had.  After all, spandex was my friend at that point. 

I had family weddings to attend to and needed to dress up for Saturday nights at the weight loss surgery events.  At that point in time I still had not begun wearing necklaces because all of the years before weight loss surgery I felt like I was choking in a necklace… everything was big, including my neck.

Apparently, my husband wanted to surprise me with something special for my birthday.  He found a jewelry store in downtown Ventura where the owner designed his own jewelry and began a conversation with him.  This gentleman was a delightful Peruvian man who makes some stunning pieces.  I knew nothing about him or the surprise at this point.  Thank goodness my husband, who is not a person who ever admired jewelry much began speaking with my daughter and my assistant in the office.  After beginning the design with the jeweler my husband took the advice of Michelle and Angie and involved me in the surprise.  They had convinced him that my taste, the jeweler’s taste, my husband’s taste and their taste in jewelry might not all be the same.

What they had at this point was something with my birthstone which is sapphire, and something original and unique.  The jeweler showed Chuck some unfired sapphire beads and Chuck decided on one bead for each pound that I had shed.  That’s 250 sapphire beads.  We decided together on doing them as a 3 strand necklace on white gold.  Chuck designed the ends with scroll and diamonds interspersed that would tie the 3 strands together.  It is amazing.  It is beautiful, a work of an artist and full of the love intended in the thought and planning that went behind its creation.

Now I am the proud owner of a sapphire necklace that is the history of my weight loss surgery journey and I wear it with love in my heart and pride in my step every time I have the opportunity.