Her jade bracelet is heavy as it slides down her wrist. Her aunts, grandmother and mother each have one; Evelyn Tran (12) has one too. Even though there is considerable distance between Tran and her family in Vietnam, she is able to feel “really connected to the women [in her family]” and it “reminds [her] where [she is] from.” Even others can see the beauty in her bracelet, as Tran says her friends are always touching it. Even people who may not know her will ask “What is that? Where did you get it?”
“It represents luck and protects me from bad energy,” Tran said. “The story is, if this bracelet breaks, then there’s bad energy around you. The battle is between the bracelet and that. Growing up, all my aunts and grandma [each] had [one] so it became like a tradition for women [in my family] to wear it.”
Tran wears her bracelet every day. Unlike most pieces of jewelry, Tran cannot take hers off until it breaks.
“It’s hard to put on,” Tran said. “What I [did] was I lathered lotion all over my hands and in one swipe, [slid] it on … it gets your hand super red … I can’t take it off. It needs to be kept on. I just have to wear it until it breaks off.”
In contrast to Tran’s bracelet, AP English Literature and English 11 teacher Olivia Bogert’s cross necklace is so light that she sometimes feels for it in a panic, worried that it is not there. She is “conscious” of it while she wears it.
That is not the only time that Bogert reaches for it throughout the day, however.
“I’ll play with my necklace [throughout the day],” Bogert said. “My friends know if I’m playing with it I could be anxious or feeling overwhelmed. For me, it’s … almost like a token of comfort.”
When Bogert was in sixth grade, she experienced the first death in her life when her great-grandmother passed. As part of the will, all of her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren were able to pick out one item from her house.
“When my great-grandmother had her first wedding anniversary, her husband, my great-grandpa, gave her this cross as a symbol of … their faith, but also achieving that first year of marriage together,” Bogert said. “When I went into the house to choose what I wanted … I went into her bathroom — it smelled like her which felt very comforting — and on her counter was jewelry laid out. I remember looking at the cross and thinking, ‘I really want that.’”
A year later, Bogert received a letter detailing the story of this cross. Her great-grandmother wrote that it was one of her “most cherished items.”
When Tess Wheatley (11) was 10, her mother gifted her a piece of jewelry she once cherished herself: a charm bracelet. Attached to the bracelet are “all the charms [Wheatley’s mom] collected when she was little,” including her mom’s initials.
As Wheatley moves, her charm bracelet clanks and jingles.
“I was playing heads up seven up in one of my English classes, and I got this girl out and she knew it was me because the bracelet was making [so much] noise,” Wheatley said. “It’s pretty heavy too and it’s very jingly. You can always tell when I’m nearby.”
Like Tran, Wheatley never takes her bracelet off. She likes the connection she is able to feel with her mother throughout the day.
“Having it on is a constant reminder of my mom,” Wheatley said. “That’s very meaningful and it makes me feel safer knowing a part of her is with me.”
Bogert wears her necklace “every single day,” as well. As she reaches up to touch it subconsciously throughout the day, it serves as a reminder for her of her great-grandmother.
“I think about my birthday [when] my great-grandmother took me for a whole day together and we went to the American Girl Doll store,” Bogert said. “It was a huge deal because it was in Chicago, and it was on the main street. To me, [the necklace] still smells like her. When I put it on, I think of her scent and she had this signature perfume. I didn’t get much time with her, but I was lucky enough to ever meet my great-grandmother.”
More than anything, these pieces serve to ground their wearers and provide comfort.
“You know when you get anxiety … and you just need something to remind you that you’re in the present?” Tran said. “That’s how I feel about my jade bracelet. But also, it’s gorgeous and I like looking at it.”
