Jewelry boxes  

When my grandmother passed away, she left me all of her jewelry in her will. While the idea of having her jewelry pleased me, the best part of it was having her jewelry box for my possession. I had admired her mahogany jewelry box since I was a little girl and was thrilled to now own it. I remember her standing over the jewelry box for making sure all of her jewelry adjusted perfectly and looking at her reflection in the mirror. She always seemed so put together. She will be missed incredibly. When she was diagnosed as being terminally ill, she had taken me aside and told me that she would be passing her jewelry and her jewelry box on to me. I had been so touched that tears filled my eyes.

Jewelry box

As I sat on my bed, with her jewelry box sitting in front of me, I just stared at it. I tried to remember all of the memories that were attached to that jewelry box for I imagined her standing there telling me to take good care of it. I intended to. I opened it very slowly and gently, afraid to even get fingerprints on it. I couldn't bring myself to actually touch any of her jewelry yet. So, months after her death, I finally decided that it was time to look through the jewelry box. I wanted to take her nicest diamond ring and have it reset for myself. It had once belonged to my great grandmother and she'd passed it to my grandmother. It would now be passed to each generation. As I searched through the jewelry box for it, I discovered a tiny little hidden drawer inside of it. I opened it, curiously, and saw that there was a piece of paper inside of it. I pulled it out and it was a tiny folded piece of stationary. With shaking hands, I opened it up and discovered that it was a letter.

The letter was written to my grandmother from my grandfather. It was the sweetest and most touching love letter I'd ever read. I came to the conclusion that he wrote it to her on the day he intended to propose. The tears flowed down my cheeks from happiness and sadness. The words that he used described his love for her so perfectly. She had kept it for all of those years. I wasn't sure why she had hidden it away - whether it was for safekeeping or for someone to find years later. I loved the fact that I had discovered it. I felt closer to her at that moment than I ever had. I almost felt like she was standing in the room watching me put the cherished letter back into the jewelry box. After that discovery, the jewelry box had a whole new meaning to me.