The Bracelet

Ramona Kavianian

It caught my eye while I was walking back home from work. It was just a streak of sparkling light, shining brightly in the midst of the afternoon sun. I couldn’t tell what it was, just hypnotically walked towards it and picked it up from the street curb. It was a bracelet, gold with Rhine stone all around it. I looked at it closely, it felt heavy in my hands and the Rhine stones looked like real diamonds! I looked around to see if anyone was looking at me or was searching the area for something. The few people walking on the street seemed absorbed in their thoughts and were walking quickly passed me. I put the bracelet in my pocket and went up to my apartment. I examined it further, it was a beautiful, sturdy and well made diamond bracelet. I looked up jewelers in the area, found one nearby, and the next evening took the bracelet in for an appraisal. The guy put his jewelers eye loupe on and held the bracelet close to its magnifying glass. “18K Gold with ½K diamond stones all around it”. WOW so this is the real deal, I thought and casually asked, “so about how much do you think its worth?”

“Well, I can buy it off your hands for about 10 Grand”

WHATTT? 10 GRAND? So its probably worth more if this guy is offering me 10K on the spot. “Hmm, I am not ready to sell it yet, let me think about it”

On the way home, I was ecstatic at first. Oh, how I can use this money right now. I can pay off my student loan, catch up on my bills, have a little savings until my income picks up a bit at the new job, the fantasies started rolling in and how miraculous it was that I had found the bracelet at this time of financial hardship in my life. Universe must love me, comes to my aid just at the right time. As I got closer to my apartment and the place I had first spotted the bracelet, my enthusiasm gave way to thinking about how someone could have lost such valuable jewelry. Could it have slipped off their wrist or out of their purse? I started looking around for clues.

There were only a few businesses on either side of the street. The bracelet was by the curb on the side as my building in pacific heights along with a café, a Chinese restaurant and a “Mind and body” yoga studio and Massage spa. There was a hair salon and a small Italian cafe on the other side. The more likely scenario was that the person had dropped the bracelet coming out of one of these businesses or less likely was just passing though this area.

In either case, they must have felt terrible as I have when I have lost anything of material or sentimental value. It occurred to me that I have a chance to get it back to them. I imagined the shock and elated surprise of seeing this bracelet again, when they had lost all hopes of ever finding it, how their absolute hopelessness would turn into restored faith in some goodness left within humanity and how they would pass to others the positive karmic flow. At this thought, my original ecstatic feeling turned into a highly euphoric state.

I went to each and everyone one of the businesses on both side of the street and asked if anyone had reported a lost bracelet, no one had. I went again the next day and left my phone number. For two weeks I checked with the businesses until I finally got a call back.

She had been visiting California on a business trip. She lives in Colorado. When she realized she had lost the bracelet, she was devastated. It had been a gift from her soul mate who has since passed on. She had tried to recall every place she’d been to on her visit to California. She had been to a few cities, so she had a lot of grounds to cover. She went on with barely a glimpse of hope that the bracelet would ever turn up if anyone got their hands on it.

Then on one of her final calls, she had contacted “Mind and Body” Massage spa in San Francisco, thinking that she may have left the bracelet in the pocket of the rope as she had gotten a massage there to decompress the day before she left. She told me later that she had jumped 10 feet into the air when the lady on the phone had told her that someone had stopped by to see if anyone had lost a bracelet. She was also amazed to find out I had spotted the bracelet on the the side on the street.

She sent me a card covered with the phrase: “GOD BLESS YOU” “GOD BLESS YOU” along with a gift card for a nice massage which I could use after letting go of such beautiful piece of jewelry!

I still have the card. Not to mention that shortly after not only my business picked up rapidly and my finances improved, I had a few, unexpected and amazing surprises happen in my life which only confirmed that my decision not to keep the bracelet and return it to its rightful owner, making her feel eternally joyful, ultimately scored me a lot more Karmic points than the bracelet was ever worth.