Shot Through The Heart

This would be my favorite necklace of all time. (The one made out of bullet shells.. yes I realize I'm wearing 3 other necklaces besides this one so I decided to clarify.) Why is this necklace my favorite? Well I shall tell you.

Lat summer I went to Northwest Youth Corps for 6 weeks and met one of the most amazing people I know. His name is Chris. He and I became very close throughout the session. However, we weren't on the same crew so I only got to see him on the weekends; but we spent every waking moment of our weekends together. At the end of the 3rd week (Friday) all the crews were driving to the weekend campsite. I was so eager to see Chris. I had a lot to tell him. Plus, I'd be getting to see my family the next day (Saturday) for the first time in 3 weeks. After dinner, he and I were sitting together looking at the sky that was so clear you could see the Milky Way. He said "do you like bullet shells?" as I picked one up off the ground and made it whistle. "Yes. They're cool looking and you can make them whistle." He said "I have something for you" and reached into his coat. He handed me the necklace. As I took it he asked "do you want it?" I said yes of course. He then told me that he had made it for me out of bullet shells, a piece of obsidian, and some rusty wire he found at his campsite from 3rd week. I looked at the "clasp". The green chord you see is actually part of his extra shoe laces for his work boots. The clasp is a penny he carved a hole into with his pocket knife and tied the chord through it and on the other side is a loop. The necklace is held shut when the penny goes through the loop.

Tonight, he and I skyped because I was just having an absolute shit day. (meaning I cried for 2 hours holding my pocket knife. I was crying because I wanted to and didn't want to cut all at the same time... so I just sat there and cried) He saw that I was wearing the necklace he gave me and he was talking to me about it and how it was the first time he ever put effort into making something for someone besides himself. Then I told him that I was lucky he had such a great eye for finding pretty obsidian. That is when he told me that using that piece was no luck. He told me how he had spent his free time every day gathering obsidian and when it was bedtime, he would go through all the pieces he had found that day and keep the 3 prettiest ones. He told me about how he had done this until Wednesday night. Then the next evening at dinner, he sat there with 12 pieces of obsidian from his collections from the days before. He told me about how he tossed some out because there were shaped funny or they didn't have good color. He decided on this piece because it was partially clear and was more purple than black and was very nicely shaped. I tell you I had the biggest dumb smile on my face as he was telling me just how much work he put into making this necklace perfect for me.

Funny how just one little story can turn your whole day around; can make every little thing that went wrong seem like a thing of the past.