The other night, I awoke at 3:45am, cold, sweaty, shaking, belly unsettled, achy. Oh noooo....I'm sick! What I thought was just congestion from inhaling car exhaust (which by my estimates is the rough equivalent of smoking 4-5 packs of cigarettes a day, ugh), had turned into some sort of illness. I cried alone in my bed, feeling awful and scared because I wasn't sure what kind of illness it was or how long it would last. I just let myself cry, hoping somehow my crying would cure me. As I cried my mind drifted back to memories from the previous day, and then, much to my surprise, my tears turned into tears of happiness as I recalled the events of the day.....
That day, I had finally found the main loose gemstone area- just one block in a Muslim neighborhood on the dirt road with goats and chickens wandering around. On this block, one can find about 10 lapidaries- places where people take raw stone and grind it into pieces suitable for jewelry. There are also a few jewelry shops on the block which are connected with factories that make jewelry. I spent the day in these shops.
The routine goes something like this: I take off my shoes and enter the shop, where I am greeted by friendly men who serve me steaming hot sweet tea. I tell them what I am looking for--different types of rings, pendants, and also loose stones. They dump piles of rings in front of me. Piles of pendants. Piles of any stone I want...and the stones...they are coated with jasmine oil to keep them in good condition! Can I just tell you how delicious they smell?? I marvel at the beautiful stones. I pick a few stones out and arrange them in a pattern. "I wonder if it's possible to make a necklace that looks like this?" To which the reply is, "Of course madam, anything is possible! We can manufacture anything you wish..Why not?"
wow.
So I lie in bed sick and feverish, crying tears of joy in the middle of night because I come to this realization: I believe I have found something to do in this world that satisfies my adult self as well as my child within.
As a little girl, I was always drawn to rocks and gems and jewelry, shiny thing of all sorts....I collected beautiful rocks from around the neighborhood in my little pink stroller, I sold mica rocks in front of my neighbor's house (no one actually bought any) and sold friendship bracelets on my other friend's block (we made $40!) I had a teacher who disapproved of my wearing my rhinestone jewelry to school in 1st grade, and glitter was (and still is) one of my favorite art mediums.
The week that I graduated college, I started making beaded earrings...hundreds of them. I loved it. It didn't have anything to do with my Sociology degree, but it brought me joy!
And now, as an adult, my dream is to have a career where I get to express my creativity, be my own boss, and make a lot of money. So when I realized I could easily design and manufacture my own jewelry here, rather than just buy finished pieces...I touched on the possiblity of what it might feel to satisfy both the needs of my little magical girl self and my adult artist businesswoman self.
I spent the next 2 days sick but inspired, wandering around buying little rock treasures to turn into designer pieces.
