Never be Afraid to Ask and Other Gems - episode 75
Zest. This woman has it in spades. She is fun, funny and vivacious. You will be able hear all that and more in this conversation with Liz Fletcher. We met in an Instagram course. (Honestly I had to be schooled in social media as there is so much to figure out!) Liz has gone from men’s to women’s fashion and now she is celebrating 25 years in the jewelry business. She has some remarkable things to say.
One of my favorite takeaways from our time together is the wisdom of, never be afraid to ask. The worst thing to happen is you will get a no. And if you do, dust yourself on and carry on. You will survive. You may even thrive. Just ask Liz. Almost every opportunity she has had has come from putting herself out there. And I love that she has taught that same life principle to her daughters. Like Liz, let’s not be afraid of no.
*Transcript of this conversation under episode notes.
Fun. Loving. Cheeky.
— Liz
Some Special Pieces
Thoughts from Never be Afraid to Ask, and Other Gems
I’m not a huge jewelry person yet after having the conversation with Liz I got to thinking about some special pieces I have kept for years mostly out of sentimentality. I doubt most of them hold high value except to me. They each tell a story of a time, of people I remember that touched my life whether they are still actively in it or not. I decided to go in chronological order as a place to start.
The boyfriend I had in the 8th grade saved up his money and bought the turquoise ring at a store called Brothers on the main drag of our town. In addition to selling some jewelry they were much more famous for selling waterbeds. What does that tell you? The relationship was short-lived as they are at that age but as you can see I kept the ring. Don’t worry, he went on to marry a wonderful woman that I became friends with.
Awww, the Seiko ring watch. From a later boyfriend. We had an on-again-off-again relationship that lasted some years. Very formational in how I chose guys moving forward. I am happy to report he too married a fantastic woman and she and I are close friends. (In fact we have been a part of the same, small prayer group for 22 years and counting.) Do you see a pattern here?
The amethyst is my birthstone. I love this cut with the two small diamonds. Simple, elegant. My mother gave it to me when I graduated from college. The first one in my family, my generation, to do so. That makes it very special to me. Funny, I called her to remind me which occasion it had been (college graduation? 21st birthday? other?) and as moms do, she remembered. It is her birthstone too. And in the retelling of this she became verklempt as she has been much more prone to in recent times.
The ring my husband used to propose. He said all the diamonds were for all the reasons he loved. Cue Van Morrison’s Have I Told You Lately that I Love You, our song.
When we married we had a potluck wedding as we were blending families and wanted every cent to go to the down payment of a house for the four kids we shared. This ring came later when we had a little bit more money. I wear it every day with pleasure for the challenges we’ve endured and the blessings we’ve shared.
We ended up having 6 kids: his, mine, ours and theirs which I’ve written about before (episode 37). I wanted a ring that had all the kids birthstones so Ron and I designed one. The gems are put in order of how each came into my heart: Shaun - ruby; Kyle - diamond; Kori - aquamarine; Bryn - garnet; Christian - sapphire; and Taylor - turquoise. I’ve recently started wearing it with my wedding rings.
This is probably the only piece of serious jewelry I’ve ever picked out for myself. (Sure plenty of costume stuff; this is in a different category.) I was with Taylor on a mother-daughter trip to Laguna Beach and we each picked out rings. It’s got my favorites: amethyst, turquoise, chips of diamond and silver.
One of my dearest friends gave me this bracelet for a milestone birthday. It means so much because she means so much. We’ve grown even closer over the past couple of years as she’s gone through a hard time and come out the other side better than ever. We met in 1980. How is that for longevity?
So there you have it. Each piece has a story and I have to say I rather enjoyed sharing what, and who, is behind each one of mine!
