A Pearl is Made as a natural defense against an irritant such as a parasite entering their shell or damaging their fragile body.
These chemicals harden, trapping the parasite inside.
In an act of self-defense, the invertebrate oozes a liquid and as the secretion intermingles with the parasite, it creates a material called nacre, or mother-of-pearl.
Several concentric layers of nacre are secreted around this parasite and over time a pearl is formed.
Natural pearls come in a variety of colors, shapes and sizes, and much like snowflakes, no two are the same.
One of my birthstones is a pearl… and I’ve never really been a fan, but the irony is not lost on me now.
When I was young, pearls reminded me of grandmas or preppy older ladies wearing pastel cardigan sets.
I was neither of those things, not that there’s anything wrong with either, nor am I judging, but pearls didn’t fit my overall vibe, or so I thought.
Through the years though, I’ve come to enjoy pearls. I have several sets that were my grandma’s and have used many in DIY projects, the sort of bedazzled pearls in a campy sort of way on jeans and t-shirts and sunglasses and hair accessories and keychains and even Halloween skulls, but as far as precious gems go, I’d always preferred diamonds.
I’m not sure why I thought I had to choose between the two, you can obviously appreciate both, but it’s clear I put more thought into this because people often liked to give gifts of birthstones and pearls seemed like a funny gift for a child... way too adult for a kid, I always thought.
One holiday season at the art gallery, when we had an epic year, the boss gave out really nice gifts and I received a beautiful pink hued pearl necklace. Even though I felt like it wasn’t my style at the time, I really loved it (and appreciate it more now that I’m older). When I returned home from work that day and told my husband and showed him, he immediately made a sexual joke about my boss giving me a pearl necklace and laughed at me and told it to our friends who came over that night as well. At the time, I had no idea what that meant. Yes, I was slightly naive and had to ask him… but I didn’t know, and so I just laughed it off too, but it made me uncomfortable.
And then, in all seriousness, he accused me of having an affair with my boss.