Before I was Born

After hearing of my switch from accounting to jewelry, people often ask "Why did you chose jewelry?".  To which I'd reply:
"I don't know, I just thought I'd try it".  
"Leave your career to try it?!"
"Yeah...(duh)"


Back in December, our family was home for the holidays and out of nowhere my mom comes bouncing in and hands me a little bag.  In the bag was a tiny ring with the initials "L L" on it (my mom's maiden name initials).  My sister and I, totally confused, asked:
"Where'd you get this?"  
LL: "I made this"
Me: "What?!  When?"
LL: "Oh, you didn't know?  I took jewelry classes before.  It was too hard, and I didn't think I could be successful in it, so I stopped"


Let's get the facts straight:
1.  2007 quit my job
2.  Moved to NY
3.  Started school full time for jewelry 
4.  Went to Florence for 5 weeks to study stone setting
5.  I'm now working as a full time jewelry designer
6.  For almost 3 years I made this huge change in my life on a leap of faith and I had NO idea my mom took jewelry classes before.  


Last weekend I was home visiting the family (7 months later).  My sister brings back the borrowed Lulu ring.  Once my mom sees it she brightens up, "Oh!  This is the ring I made when I first moved to California.  I was pregnant with you and wanted to take jewelry and ceramics classes because it's what I always wanted to do".


So now when people ask me "Why did you chose jewelry?", I can now answer:

"It's something I picked up before I was born."