Heninger Park

The Left-Behind Bracelet by Ginelle Hardy

Aug 17, 2001

Recently, a young woman named Elizabeth knocked on our front door. She had come by to visit the home of her grandparents, the Seeley's. We sat on the front porch to talk and Elizabeth told us that when she was small her grandmother would lift her up and hold her so she could stand on the brick porch railing. Inside the house Elizabeth showed us where her grandfather's rocking chair had been. She said he would put two grandchildren on each large arm of the chair and they would all happily rock together. Elizabeth was surprised to see her grandmother's O'Keefe & Merritt stove was still being used in the kitchen. She asked if the tangerine tree was still growing in the backyard and we took her out back so she could see the tree for herself. She lingered near the garage fondly remembering watching her grandfather busy with his tools.

When Elizabeth mentioned the year she was born I thought I might have something special she could take with her. Fourteen years ago when we moved into the house I found a bracelet on a shelf in the linen closet. The bracelet was a grandmother's bracelet with a sterling silver charm engraved with the name and birthdate of each grandchild. I displayed the bracelet over the kitchen sink with a nail through a ring on each end so the charms hung down overlapping each other in a neat row. My family and friends have seen the bracelet. They have touched the many charms, read the names and birthdates, marveled at so many grandchildren and wanted to know to whom the bracelet belonged. The truth was, it was a left-behind bracelet.

After several years I had slipped the bracelet into a little pottery planter that sits in a window sill. I told Elizabeth that I might have her grandmother's bracelet. I went inside and poured the bracelet from the little planter out into my hand and began reading the engraved names and dates until I found Elizabeth's name and birthdate. I ran through the house and back out to the front porch and gave Elizabeth the left-behind bracelet. With tears in her eyes she read the names of her brothers and sisters and cousins and then held the bracelet tightly in her hand. She asked if I wanted the bracelet and I was pleased to say, "No, it belongs to you." Later, after we said goodbye and she was about to drive away I yelled, "Visit again anytime!", she waved and the bracelet's charms jingled on her wrist.