When I was 14, I went on spring break with my aunt and uncle to Widbey Island outside of Seattle, Washington. I spent the entire trip searching for something to commemorate the trip. One of our favorite activities was browsing through antique shops.

On the final day of our vacation we stopped at an antique store that had a wide variety of jewelry. I was not much of a jewelry lover, but the lockets caught my eye. I bought a small floral etched silver locket. This was the beginning of my fascination with lockets.

From that year on, I would buy a locket for every trip I took with my aunt and uncle. They usually took my brother and I on spring break since our parents worked. We visited Washington, Oregon, Arizona and Canada regularly. Each trip I took I would buy a locket to keep my memories.

I have one from Oregon with a dried flower we picked in it, another from Arizona with a picture of us outside a Tombstone saloon, one from Canada with a picture of my aunt and I at the botanical gardens, and the one from Washington bought on my first trip.

Lockets also became a common gift for me. For my sweet sixteen, my friends went together and bought a locket to put a group picture in. They had the date etched into the inside. My grandmother gave my best friend and I matching etched oval lockets with our senior pictures in them when we graduated from high school, and another when I married my husband.

My mom gave me a heart shaped one after having each of my four children with their first pictures in them. She had their names put on the back of each. My brother gave me a locket he bought while overseas in the Navy. He included a picture of him in uniform.

Then my sister in law gave me a double sided one when I was pregnant with my second child. Each one has a special meaning and story behind it. Stories that I hope to pass on to my children when they are grown.

Sometimes lockets are all we have when our loved ones pass on. These lockets are close to our heart. In centuries passed it was not uncommon for women as well as men to have lockets with their loved ones pictures to look at when far from home or when they died.

For me the most important locket was given to me April 2007. When my grandmother passed away, my uncle bought me a locket and had it filled with her ashes. He then had it sealed shut so that I would have her with me at all times. She helped to raise me, and honestly was more of a mother to me than my own mom. She was a great loss to me, but having my locket with her ashes reminds me to live for her. It feels like she is with me at all times.

Lockets are wonderful. They can symbolize love or help you to cherish memories or events. Make each one special so you will have a treasure to pass on through your family.

Learn more about this author, Miss Tara.
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