No Boyfriend, No Bling

by Michelle Carlton

A few weeks ago, I went out to dinner with my parents to celebrate my birthday. After dinner we came home for the Cake and Presents portion of the evening (my favorite part, of course).

I started opening gifts—a new novel, a cute little cardigan for work, a hanging decoration for my apartment—when I reached for what was clearly a jewelry box. My mother had given me a gorgeous necklace—stylish, dressy but not too dressy, and it hits just the right spot on my neck. Then I saw she had also bought coordinating earrings. My first reaction was a huge smile and a big “thank you!” My second reaction was to think, “Finally, I have something to replace the jewelry set Alex gave me!”

For my birthday two years ago, Alex got me a beautiful necklace with matching earrings. Again, it was stylish, dressy but not too dressy, and it hit just the right spot on my neck. From then on, I wore those pieces to every dinner, every event, and every single job interview. Until we broke up, at which point I couldn’t even look at them, much less wear them. They’ve sat in a box at the bottom of my drawer ever since.

These aren’t the only tombstones in my Ex-Boyfriend Jewelry Graveyard. I have a couple more pieces from Alex: a necklace he gave me on our very first Christmas together (I wore it almost every day when I studied abroad and had to leave him for four months), as well as a beautiful diamond necklace he gave me for a Valentine’s Day that I’ll probably never wear again (such a shame!).

I suppose I could have gotten rid of them. But I’m too sentimental and too frugal to throw them away; he never would have taken them back; and selling them on eBay (or the broken-hearted equivalent, www.exboyfriendjewelry.com) just felt wrong. So I kept them because I like them, and because maybe one day I’ll be able to look at them—even wear them—again.