From a young age I was always enthralled with my fathers coin collection, not for the potential value of each coin, but for the fact that some of them were just so darn old! To hold something that was around 100 years earlier was pretty mind blowing to me....my mind would race, imagining the path that these coins must have taken and the lives they may have crossed. For the most part, though, I grew up with modern, non-antique-y things most of my life. Other than the coins and a few old photos of grandparents, I was surrounded by modern things. I suppose my parents felt that to get rid of my grandmother's antique sewing machine and art deco era furniture and hiring an interior decorator in the early 70s, covering the house in shades of avocado, harvest gold, and orange, was a sign of progress and improvement. However, it never felt quite right to me. As soon as I moved out on my own and began digging for treasures at yard sales, estates, and flea markets and antique stores, I quickly denounced the "modern" stuff of my youth (which coincidentally is often highly collectible vintage in current times). Oddly, though, from the first little Victorian cameo locket I found for 25¢, I felt a kind of familiarity with antique jewelry. Not that I am a big believer in reincarnation (though I am pretty open to the possibility), I just had déjà vu quite often when out hunting for new collectibles and jewels. Often I just kind of "knew" what an item was, way before I had begun to invest in books and doing research. Maybe I was just rebelling from all the interior-decorator-bought things my parents insisting on buying, or who knows, maybe I DID live before. (If so, I think I was a black Victorian woman...but that's another story.)
Today, I am shifting my career from that of an antique dealer to yoga instructor and nutritionist. This weekend I have a yoga teacher training intensive with about 23 hours of hard work as I practice teach, learn asanas, and learn to embrace my beginner's mind. Unlike the past 23 years in the antique jewelry business, I will more than likely spend much of those 23 hours out of my comfort zone of familiarity and expertise as I pursue my 200 hour yoga certification. Next week I will work on a research paper for school, another arena in which I am still not very comfortable.
Still, though, over 25 years since finding my first antique treasures, I still enjoy thrill of the hunt and the joy of finding something old, something with age and character. It's been enough years now, that the déjà vu feeling is not so prevalent as much as the feeling that after all these years I am bound to come across similar items in my journeys. I'll probably always have a desire to continue to buy and sell and collect "old stuff". It's in my blood. But to be able to shift out of that comfort zone and become a beginner all over again, something I have not been for a very long time, is something for which I will continue to be immensely grateful.
(As a footnote, I was going to post about cultures and how much I have enjoyed mid eastern and eastern Indian jewelry, appreciating the detail and workmanship found in vintage filigree and other items. Somehow I got sidetracked; however, I visited an Indian boutique today and Rosie gave me a lovely henna tattoo (mendhi). While waiting for it to dry, I met a beautiful woman from an eastern African country who told me how her marriage had been arranged nearly 15 years ago by her and her husband's families. Today, 3 children later, they have never had an argument and she seemed genuinely happy and content. I guess my next post may be on the beauty of different cultures.)
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