Maria ... I just made a gem named Maria!

This may seem like a fairly simple feat for the average jewelry artist.  Making jewelry that is pleasing the eye of both the creator and their audience.  It's more than that for me.  Two years ago, I could see myself walking into my studio area, fondling the individual stones, maybe even piecing something together in my head, but it would stop there.  I wouldn't, couldn't let myself see that I had even a smidgen of creativity to follow this pursuit, this seemingly straightforward task of creating this perfect little bauble.  Looking at these today, I haven come a loooong way, baby!

When I started my journey back through this Ptsd stuff, I had no idea what I would uncover.  The road is painstakingly hard and slow as a baby turtle, yet I know I am no where near the Finish line.   When I started delving into this Pandora's Box of Emotions, I prayed,  meditated, threw salt over my shoulder....anything that would take me back to the Me I knew was inside. With the help of time, patience and a few wonderfully wise women, I have begun again.

I titled this on my jewelry site, The Maria, as it is sleek, beautiful and quietly strong.  The real Maria that inspired this piece has all of these qualities...and then some.  I had the privilege to meet her last summer at Brave Girls Camp; an experience I'll never forget.  None of us will. The experience of bonding with these girls was like the Ya-ya's,  the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and any other fantastical novel about a group of seemingly different women, coming from different paths, different socio-economic levels, meeting in a lovely, unbiased, neutral ground to Find ourselves..  We saw that inside, in our core, we all want the same thing.  Love.  Love of self, more than any other type of love,  is the missing link.  The key ingredient that Connects us all.