My Earrings Tell the Tale of Me and My Friends

I wish Russ had taken these photographs!  I am not good with the camera, but I try.

I should have written this post last week, but time simply got away from me.  Funny how work, school, study, and home can get in the way of what I want to do.  Better late than never, so here goes nothing.  Let me also apologize to you gentlemen who are readers.  Perhaps you can find a gift idea!  Click on the pictures to enlarge them.  I am putting these in as small as I can because I have more photos than usual.

As a school teacher I am showered with gifts at Christmas.  Seems that I have stocked many cupboards with coffee cups, but I don’t drink coffee and just pass those along to those who would enjoy them.  I tell my students, friends, and family that i love unusual earrings.  Last week I attended a book signing for the Leader in Me initiative and wore a pair of my favorite, student gifts.  I bet I got ten comments on those earrings and thought I would share them you would.

 

This pair of earrings are approaching 20 years old.  They came from a group of students who are now well on their life’s journey, married, children, college and graduate school!  Kendall and Shannon used to call me “Wittlejohn” and even changed the billboard name identifier which used to hang over my door at Indian Creek Middle School.  I think of these girls and the laughs we had each and every time I don these.  The parrots came in the package, but the giraffes are my favorites.

 

When every my students travel overseas, I always ask for earrings.  My husband is not a willing flyer, so this limits my opportunities to get to foreign countries.  Two families took the time and money (they would not let me reimburse them!) to purchase these beauties.  The photo does not give either pair justice.  The circular earrings are a rich brown with darker brown center.  The studs (don’t dangle) are a brilliant, glittering emerald green.  I taught two brothers Chambers, but the oldest one, Wesley (my elf), traveled to the farthest point south on the South American continent.  I think this is Cape Froward.  The brown earrings are from there.  I also taught two sisters Murphy.  They had close relative alive in Ireland.  I always grab these emerald beauties on St. Patrick’s Day!  These students, all four of them, were wonderful people and I miss the fellowship with them and their families.  Of course, they are close to mind when I wear these well-traveled earrings.

 

My sister used to travel a great deal in her career.  One year she was in San Francisco for a number of months.  She used some frequent flyer miles, got me a ticket and off I went to join her for a visit of about a week.  We had a blast and there are more tales to this trip that she will let me repeat and at least picture which, if I was to post it, would get me in the doghouse!  But when we went to Chinatown, I got these fish.  They are quite heavy and I don’t wear them as much as I would like because they make my lobes hurt.  I do wear them, but I know what awaits me while my earlobes recover.  She also got theses beautiful pineapples in Hawaii.

 

I have some additional photos.  Read the captions for brief snippets on their stories Memories…where would we be without them. Memories from my time of country living.