The little boy couldn’t have been more than twelve years old. Small for his age, he peered just over the glass countertop of our antique cases.

“How much does a custom necklace cost?” He asked, his voice level and his eyes serious.

“Well,” my dad hedged, ever the profiteer, “how much do you have?”

“I have thirty-two dollars.” The boy pulled a stack of sweaty bills out of his pocket. They were wrinkly, but neatly ordered. “I want a peanut necklace for my mom.”

“A peanut?” My dad asked.

“Yes, sir.” Any child who referred to my dad as ‘sir’ immediately rose up a few notches in his estima ...

Never get involved. That’s our mantra in the jewelry store. We may see a couple destined for divorce court before they are even married, but we smile and tolerate their bickering and sell them a wedding set.

Who are we to predict their demise? They could fight happily for the next forty years, for all we care. We’re just here to sell the rings, and the necklace for the anniversary, and the diamond earrings when he has to concede the argument…

We may see an older woman gleefully spending her retirement money on tourmaline jewelry, but she is happily in her dotage and could never need another penny of that money, what do we care? So she’ll have a little bit less to pass on to those gre ...

The woman standing in front of me is regal and beautiful, even at middle age. After 28 years of marriage, her husband is leaving her. She mentions it quietly, ashamed of her newly single status. Her rings sit in front of me, resting top-down on the black velvet pad that I’ve just pulled out. The symbolism is staggering to me- funereal and final. I am about to melt the rings down, reforming the gold into a shape that is not a wedding band. There are a few small diamonds in the engagement ring, diamonds that carried her down a white-decked aisle so very many years ago. She has never asked for more than the simple sparkling stones on her hand, and never received any more. To these diamonds, I will add the birthstones of ...