Jewelry Shopping with my Teenage Son

Jewelry shopping took on a new meaning recently when my son and I went shopping for jewelry for him to give to his girlfriend for her birthday. While I enjoyed spending time with my son, I certainly didn’t realize what an ordeal jewelry shopping could be.

Jewelry at the local Wal-Mart jewelry counter was totally out of the question and I quickly learned jewelry kiosks and department store jewelry counters was also not going to pass for the purchase he wanted to make. I suggested one of the jewelers in the mall and he quickly informed me of a jewelry designer he had in mind. For a minute, I was taken aback that this kid knew what a jewelry designer even was much less knew of one personally. However, I was not impressed after I thought of the mounting cost one jewelry piece was likely going to cost him or more specifically, me!

We left the mall and drove downtown to where the more up-town shops were located. He ran ahead of me to get into the store and began looking around at the jewelry on display. The man who owned the jewelry store had the reputation for also being one of the best jewelry designers in the state so I knew what I was facing as far as price points.

My son looked around at everything. Cultured pearls, opal jewelry, emerald and ruby rings, jade and topaz necklaces, peridot rings and tanzanite bracelets. He held up all sorts of earrings to the light from the standard hoop earrings to dangle diamond earrings. He must have physically touched every jewelry piece in the store.

When I lightly suggested that maybe he should sleep on it, he just ignored me and kept looking through the showcases as if he was clearly on a mission. Then he spotted it.

My heart was leaping for joy! We were almost home now! He asked the jeweler if he could see a simple but pretty link charm bracelet in the counter and the jeweler immediately handed it to him and followed it with a tray of charms. My son asked how much the bracelet would cost and the jeweler weighed the gold and decided he could part with it for $200.00. My son then inquired about the gold charms on display and about the charms the jeweler had placed on the counter and decided on a large basketball charm.

Charm and charm bracelet in tow, we finally made it to the checkout counter when my son was offered to have the basketball charm engraved on the backside of the charm. Sure, he would like to have the charm engraved. When the jeweler asked him what he would like to have on the large charm, he thought about it for a minute. He said, “May you never bounce out of my life.” And of course, I recognized this for what it was and knew he was in for a long, bumpy high school courtship.