Hilary (aka Pinky) Rose

I like jewelry. A lot. I like to look at it, give it as a gift, and for a while I even dabbled in making jewelry. But ironically, as much as I love seeing other people decked out in their jewelry, I wear very little. I’m not sure why, or rather why not.

But I have one piece that is my absolute favorite. My go-to piece of jewelry is this silver cuff. It’s hardly my most expensive bracelet, but it fits me in so many ways.

In 1969 or ’70, my now ex-sister-in-law was selling Native American jewelry, and my mother bought me this bracelet. I’ve been told it’s Zuni, though it doesn’t look like any Zuni jewelry that I’ve seen - so I’m not entirely convinced. But I’ve always been interested in Native cultures, and this cuff fits my wrist perfectly. I love the feel of it, the weight, its coolness on a hot summer day. And most of all, the fact that my mom bought it for me “just because” - something she never did.

Years later, when my daughter Erin was 5, she would get out of the tub and wrap herself in my mom’s old mink coat. A coat that I’m sure was quite the thing in its day, but its day had long passed. To finish the look, Erin would put on my silver cuff, squeezing it together to keep it from falling off. Then she would vamp around the house in her evening wear. I thought this was all very cute, until I realized the cuff was about to break in half from all that squeezing.

One repair and 50 years later, scratched, worn, and damaged, I still love this bracelet. Not in spite of its flaws, but because of them. It’s the imperfections that make it perfect!