05.15.23 The next chapter

They took my gallbladder and gave me socks

Last month I turned 60...and for the last 21 years I've wondered what it would be like when I became the age my mom was when she died in 2002.

There's a whole lot wrapped up in that...especially after a trip to the ER and a few nights in the hospital for emergency gallbladder surgery at 59 and 11 months.  It undid me more than a little. 

Fortunately, I'm headed for a full recovery, and except for losing a few weeks in the process, it appears I am going to be no worse for the wear.

As for being 60, here's what I can tell you so far...

Mom - in her late 50's

I look more like my mom than I ever expected to (I always thought I looked like my Dad)…I regularly catch a glimpse of myself in a mirror, or even a reflection in a window, and there she is looking back at me.

I'm healthy (gallbladder aside, I am in good health - or so my doctors tell me); I eat well, I exercise regularly...and while there are no guarantees, I don't expect this to be my last year...

…so, I'm trying to figure out who I want to be for the rest of my life. 

Covid changed all of us - but it's much more than that - and the transition started before the pandemic.  

In 2019, purely by coincidence, I closed my consulting firm (anticipating more travel and time in the jewelry studio...oh, well). 

It's been nine years since I was a full time parent - our youngest child left home in September 2014, leaving me lots of free time to start a blog and learn to make jewelry; and ten years since I was a daughter (my dad died just before my 50th birthday).

Life was going to be different; I was going to be different.  I just didn't know how...but I'm starting to get the idea...

The pandemic brought a lot of darkness, but it's also given me an extraordinary amount of clarity. 

I won't allow my time to be wasted. I no longer have patience for anyone who doesn't value my time, and I want to devote that time to things and people that matter. 

I've re-engaged with politics, but in a much more positive way.  Instead of writing angry Resistbots to my Senators who have no interest in my thoughts, I've been writing Postcards to Voters - over 1,500 of them - since I started in January of 2020.

I've continued volunteering and mentoring - much of it virtually - while things were really locked down.  It's been wonderful to grow and sustain those connections now that we can do things in person again.

I've also figured out what - beyond my family and friends - brings me joy.

Texas Farmers Market haul including flowers from Petal's Ink

Flowers bring me joy - I love having them in the house, especially knowing that every week when I have them delivered I am supporting a small, woman owned business. 

Cooking and baking bring me joy, again - before Covid, I'd pretty much given up (after doing it on a schedule for twenty years) - helps, too, that I'm shopping at the farmers market and have significantly upgraded my kitchen equipment.

With my friend Alaine at a recent WJA event
both wearing our Social Justice earrings

Even though I'm not making it right now, jewelry brings me lots of joy...so much so, that I am still a relatively active member of the Women's Jewelry Association in Austin...and of course, I keep buying it.

I didn't know what I would find when I started my journey down the jewelry path...it has turned out to be so much more than just shiny things.  I found a creative outlet - both at the bench and on this blog, incredible new friends, and with one of those friends made my children's wedding rings.

I don't know what else I'll be doing - but I'm looking forward to making, buying, wearing and writing about life and jewelry for the foreseeable future.

Until next time. 

Getting started

I like jewelry - it's in my blood, literally.  I like puns.  I think "Facets of Myself" is kind of clever.  My husband and children will probably roll their eyes - they think most of my puns are lame.  I don't care - this blog isn't for them, it's for me.

For the past 30 years I've been in the public policy business.  For 25 of those years I've been raising children.  My nest is now empty, and I've long had a pipe dream of being in the jewelry business (although I have no formal training - I do have years of shopping and wearing experience).  That said, I'm seriously considering trying to make jewelry more than a hobby...so this is where I'm going to start.

My great, great uncle was in the diamond business.  When my grandmother and great aunt were girls and he would visit, as a treat he would pull out his ring trays and let them pick something.  My profile picture (above) is one of those rings - a fabulous synthetic sapphire set in white and yellow gold with green enamel.

When my parents became engaged, Uncle Bernard mailed my father a packet of diamonds, a loupe and two pieces of diamond paper. He said "pick the one you want, wrap it separately from the others and send the stones back." My dad did that, and Uncle Bernard set the chosen diamond in a 4 prong Tiffany platinum setting.  Thirty years later, when I became engaged, I picked a different stone shape (emerald versus brilliant cut, from a nice Jewish diamond broker in Austin) - and an identical setting.  Until I had the ring and compared it with my mother's I had no idea our rings were the the same.

I can't remember when I didn't have jewelry.  I started buying my own pieces - inexpensive silver rings and pendants - in junior high school.  I still have most of them - well, actually my daughter does.  I saved them and when she was a young teen I passed them along - and she wears them.

As I got older, I continued to acquire things - from my parents, as purchases (especially when I was a single woman with disposable income), and over the last 25 years from my wonderful husband.

My great aunt, both my grandmothers and my mom are now all gone, and as a result I have a trove of treasures, some of which date back as far as the 1920s.  Some pieces I wear as is, some I've had reset - and some I'm just never going to wear.

I'm starting to go through the pieces in the last category, list them on etsy, and blog about the process. My goal is to find all the items a good home, and to increase my own knowledge at the same time.

Find me, and my goodies, at Facets of Myself (https://www.etsy.com/shop/dshaas).

This is a new journey for me - and you're welcome to come along for the ride.