Embracing Your Personal Style
When I was in high school, I spent several summers working at the Carlsbad Caverns National Park selling turquoise jewelry to tourists. I thought it was a pretty sweet gig, making a king's ransom of minimum wage, while having the chance to practice speaking French with unsuspecting customers visiting from abroad. Early each morning, I would park my car in a grocery store parking lot and take the 40 minute ride to work aboard the company bus. I would spend much of that time reading books or staring out the window at the vast desert landscape, lost in thought. Looking back now, I see that it was the beginning of my morning quiet time ritual, one that I still practice to this day.
But getting back to my story about selling turquoise jewelry. You see, I despised it. While it was my birthstone, other family members had gorgeous rare gemstones like ruby, emerald, and diamond! - mine was a rock. Teenage jealousy aside, I also felt that turquoise was just plain dull. Growing up in the desert of New Mexico, it was something that could easily be found on any nature walk just outside my front door, no mining required. There didn’t seem to be anything special or attractive about it. So for years, decades even, I avoided it like the plague.
But as you probably already know, what we find appealing tends to change and evolve over time. Just like with certain foods, our sense of taste changes with age (hello peas, I used to hate), the same goes with personal style. I’m not talking specifically about the constantly changing fashion trends, but more about what we are magnetically drawn to when it comes to beauty - both inner and outward, as we journey through life.
Somewhere in my late twenties, I found myself making friends with my birthstone. I saw it with new (more mature) eyes and slowly embraced that maybe it was special after all. And in exactly how the law of attraction works, I began to see it everywhere - in antique stores and at flea markets, in magazines, and also recalled how fashion icon Ralph Lauren embraced turquoise jewelry from the very start of his career - and continues to do so today.
As my fondness grew, I started buying a few pieces here and there, a bracelet and a ring or two. And then one day, while digging through old shoe boxes of jewelry and memorabilia, discovered that much to my surprise, I had bought a few pieces during those teenage years when I was boldly declaring my objections. Life has a funny way of coming full circle doesn’t it.
Since then, I always take a peek at antique store jewelry counters, or a vendors display at the flea market, in hopes that I might find another piece that speaks to my heart and reminds me exactly who I am and where I came from.
Vintage Turquoise Jewelry Favorites
Photos: Greg Thorne | Privacy & Affiliate Policies
