forget-me-not

For my birthday, my mother had the loose links to this lovely forget-me-not bracelet from WWII welded together by our trustworthy local jeweler. This piece belonged to my grandmother, and when my mother was a teenager, while perusing her mother's jewelry box, scouring for some hidden hand-me-down goodies, she came across these ornately engraved little pieces strung together on a piece of black ribbon. She asked her mom if she could keep the bracelet, fascinated by the names on each piece of metal, but apparently never further researched it or enquired about it, because she is unsure of who all the names belong to. What we do know, however, is that forget-me-not bracelets were a typical acquirement for women on the home front during the war, who had friends and lovers and family members leaving them behind to go fight overseas.

I couldn't have asked for a more thoughtful gift; the history alone is enough to keep me wearing it, yet another heirloom to wonder about. I'd like to someday find out who all the people on the links are - what sort of characters my grandmother was attempting to hold on to in the form of sterling metal linked around her wrist - something permanent and united in spite of the potential temporality of life in war.