This gift was like no other gift I had ever given before because I got it back. Not because the person I gave it to didn't want it, but because it had no other choice but to return home. This heart pendant was small enough to fit in your pocket yet large enough to fill a room of laughter and memories. It had no monetary value to anyone but meant so much more than anything we ever could have bought our grandmother. She wore it everywhere she went and it got to see everything she got to see. So I ask the heart pendant, on this dark and stormy evening, what was it like to see the world through my grandmother's point of view?
(From the point-of-view of the heart pendant lying on my grandmother's chest)
Q: Seeing that you always laid on my grandmother's chest, you must have been smashed when she went in for a hug. Where you?
A: Yes, very much so! Another great thing about it was that anytime someone walked through the door that excited her, her heart started beating faster and faster, especially when she got to see her grandchildren and I could feel her heart beat on my back which was kinda cool.
Q: Having been everywhere my grandmother traveled, what place did you enjoy the most when you both visited?
A: Um, I'd have to say Quartsite. It's a town in Arizona where they sell rocks, crystals, and minerals and your grandmother would always bend over to look down at the rocks or crystals that were laid out on display for purchase and I always get to see them better when she got closer to the table.
Q: Did her smoking ever bug you? It was so close to you all the time, it must have.
A: Not as much as you might think. It was just something she did. Everyone has their own "thing" and that was her's.
Q: Is there anything you can tell me that she did in her free time? Like when she was lonely or bored?
A: Well you know she liked those word search books. Every time she struggled with a word she would grab me and spin me back and forth from one side of her chain to the other until she found the word.
Q: Would she go to sleep wearing you?
A: Some nights she did, she forgot. It happens, no worries. Usually she would take me off and set me in her jewelery dish or somewhere she would remember to put me back on when the next morning came.
Q: Do you remember your first day with my grandmother?
A: I do, in fact it was one of my favorite days! You and your brother finally found me in the cupboard and opened the dusty box where I was living for some time. Then I got to be out in the world and see everyday from your grandmother's point of view.
Q: What about when she went out in public or visited her family? What did she talk about?
A: Well, it depends on who you are talking about. She'd always mention whats new with her and show me off to people who admired me.
Q: I don't think I asked you this but that maybe be because I already know the answer, but just in case the audience doesn't know, can you explain what you are made of?
A: Sure. I am not larger than a quarter and made of small, red, translucent beads all shaped into a heart with a hollow center so I can hang on a chain.
Q: At any point were you ever scared?
A: Not so much at the beginning, but towards the end I was. I knew she wasn't doing so good and I was worried for her sake, but i was also worried about myself and whether or not I would get lost in all the chaos.
Q: One more question, Would you ever wish to start over or have me had given you to someone else in the first place?
A: Absolutely not! I loved your grandma and we spent so much time together we were almost inseparable. We were almost like befriends because we spent so much time together. I heard all her stories and memories; your grandmother was a great lady and she treated everyone with the utmost care and love that you were very lucky to have her in your life and so was I.
Q: Seeing that you always laid on my grandmother's chest, you must have been smashed when she went in for a hug. Where you?
A: Yes, very much so! Another great thing about it was that anytime someone walked through the door that excited her, her heart started beating faster and faster, especially when she got to see her grandchildren and I could feel her heart beat on my back which was kinda cool.
Q: Having been everywhere my grandmother traveled, what place did you enjoy the most when you both visited?
A: Um, I'd have to say Quartsite. It's a town in Arizona where they sell rocks, crystals, and minerals and your grandmother would always bend over to look down at the rocks or crystals that were laid out on display for purchase and I always get to see them better when she got closer to the table.
Q: Did her smoking ever bug you? It was so close to you all the time, it must have.
A: Not as much as you might think. It was just something she did. Everyone has their own "thing" and that was her's.
Q: Is there anything you can tell me that she did in her free time? Like when she was lonely or bored?
A: Well you know she liked those word search books. Every time she struggled with a word she would grab me and spin me back and forth from one side of her chain to the other until she found the word.
Q: Would she go to sleep wearing you?
A: Some nights she did, she forgot. It happens, no worries. Usually she would take me off and set me in her jewelery dish or somewhere she would remember to put me back on when the next morning came.
Q: Do you remember your first day with my grandmother?
A: I do, in fact it was one of my favorite days! You and your brother finally found me in the cupboard and opened the dusty box where I was living for some time. Then I got to be out in the world and see everyday from your grandmother's point of view.
Q: What about when she went out in public or visited her family? What did she talk about?
A: Well, it depends on who you are talking about. She'd always mention whats new with her and show me off to people who admired me.
Q: I don't think I asked you this but that maybe be because I already know the answer, but just in case the audience doesn't know, can you explain what you are made of?
A: Sure. I am not larger than a quarter and made of small, red, translucent beads all shaped into a heart with a hollow center so I can hang on a chain.
Q: At any point were you ever scared?
A: Not so much at the beginning, but towards the end I was. I knew she wasn't doing so good and I was worried for her sake, but i was also worried about myself and whether or not I would get lost in all the chaos.
Q: One more question, Would you ever wish to start over or have me had given you to someone else in the first place?
A: Absolutely not! I loved your grandma and we spent so much time together we were almost inseparable. We were almost like befriends because we spent so much time together. I heard all her stories and memories; your grandmother was a great lady and she treated everyone with the utmost care and love that you were very lucky to have her in your life and so was I.
Jake Hagen is a freshman at Cal State Northridge and an aspiring chef, often found looking through cookbooks in search for the latest and greatest recipes to try out.