Monday, June 09, 2008

One person's treasure is another person's toenail...or however that expression goes

I have been slowly slowly packing my things and moving into Nick’s house.

I show up with the most random conglomerations of stuff.

But for the fact that I generally look like I've bathed and am wearing clean clothing, I’m sure I look like a homeless woman wandering down the street. I'm constantly carrying too much, laden with piles of clothing and the occasional household goods.

One evening I showed up with my food processor packed in with my clothes in one of those rolly carry-on bags. This past weekend I brought my laundry basket, which is actually this really lovely woven basket rimmed in cowrie shells, which I bought in Cape Town.

Incidentally, if you’re ever visiting somewhere far away and you know you have to change planes three times to get home, a large exotic basket that you have to carry on the plane and worry about someone crushing with their luggage is one of the least practical things you can purchase. Likewise a large, brightly painted, carved wooden turtle with a long neck and the head of a woman. And bright red toenails on her turtlish feet.

Just FYI.

So anyway. I showed up with this basket, inside of which I’d layered towels and wooden bowls and my electric teakettle. Under one arm I had a long grey duffel bag with an Afghan carpet rolled up inside. Plus some hangers. And in my purse, crammed full of books and lotions and whatever else I could fit, I’d stashed a bunch of my jewelry.

There are many detestable things about moving, but the fun part is rediscovering bits and pieces of your past. For example, yesterday I found my childhood charm bracelet, in need of a slight bit of repair.

I haven’t worn it in years and years. I imagine plenty of you had charm bracelets, but if you've never had one, as a child, they're really fun. You’d add a charm when you went somewhere, or you’d get a charm as a birthday or Christmas present. The charms were special memories.

What I realized yesterday is that at first glance it’s not remotely unusual. It's a girly charm bracelet.

Until you start looking at individual charms.

There’s the little silver coral-studded elephant. And the miniature bullock card with wheels that turn. There’s a diminutive gardening shears, which actually can cut paper, as I recall. There are tiny Thai bells that ring. And an itty-bitty Taj Mahal, with four delicate silver turrets, one in each corner.

But my favorite favorite charm at that time? A tiger’s claw, rimmed in silver.

Looking at it now, I realize two things. One, that a tiger’s claw actually seemed like a normal kind of charm back then. And two? That a claw is really just a toenail. I have a bracelet with a toenail dangling from it, albeit one that used to belong to a tiger.

It’s kind of creepy and gross if you think about it.

As soon as I get it fixed, I’m totally going to start wearing it.

8 comments:

  1. Creepy, yes, but not as creepy as the once popular rabbit's foot key chain with genuine rabbit's paw in shocking pink or lime jello green.

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  2. No kidding! So bizarre. I once saw this cartoon of two rabbits at a train station, and the father rabbit was handing a rabbit foot to the son and he said, "It's your mother's - she wanted you to have this for luck." or something along those lines.

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  3. it's delightful to find concrete evidence of your exotic childhood . . .
    regarding schlepping your unique laundry basket onboard three flights, it reminded me of the time i had the unenviable task of storing a ginormous sombrero from tijuana in a plane's overhead compartment . . .

    lj

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  4. Me being me*, I can't help but think, "What would customs think if they knew you had a real tiger part on your wrist?" That has to violate some sort of endangered species trafficking embargo...

    -Vik

    *the TSA and Customs don't like me for some reason... so I tend to think the worst of them.

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  5. I am sooo disappointed now. How can you post all of this, and NOT post a picture of the large, brightly painted, carved wooden turtle with a long neck and the head of a woman and bright red toenails on her turtlish feet???

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  6. Charm bracelets and other treasures, oh my! What a fun post. I'm going to examine my charm bracelet tonight. Great silver lining perspective on moving, too.

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  7. I was reading this and wishing for pictures, too. Aren't we readers a demanding bunch?

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  8. LJ - It would be similar to the hassle of a sombrero, for sure. I've vowed not to carry back anything enormous and inconvenient again...we'll see.

    VVK - Yah, I'm sure that's true. But I'm also sure they're too busy focusing on random bullshit like how many ounces of liquid you have in your makeup bag to notice. I agree with you on thinking very little of them.

    Beach Bum - I will, I will! I didn't even think of it. Dolores (the turtle lady) is so great.

    HKW - Thank you! I didn't think of it that way, and tend to think I'm not a silver lining person, but I'd like to be.

    DCup - Ha ha! I will take pics, for sure!

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