What is Buddha, Bee and Me?

When I turned 40, my husband gave me my first Pandora bracelet.  So I would always remember this special birthday, he asked my family and some friends to each purchase a Pandora charm that either reminded them of me or  was something they wanted me to look at that would remind me of them.

One of the charms that my husband gave me was a Queen Bee.  He chose this charm because I called my maternal grandmother Bee.  I grew up in a small town and my grandmother knew everyone or at least what family everyone was a part of.  She loved to read and in my eyes, she was an expert on everything.  Not in a “know it all way” but in a way that any time I had a question, I knew whom to go to for the answer.  It makes perfect sense that at one time my grandmother sold World Book encyclopedia.  I am sure she read every one-A-Z.  My mother was an only child.  When my grandmother was diagnosed with a brain tumor, I dropped out of college to return to Alabama to assist both my mother and grandmother.  While watching my grandmother die was a painful process, it was a beautiful journey for my mom and I to share together and brought us much closer.  For years afterwards, my mother and I would exchange presents (books, scarves, plants, etc.) and would write on the card “This is something I think Bee would want you to have” or when stumped with finding an answer, we would say “I think this is what Bee would tell us to do.”  My husband chose that charm to remind me that although Bee is not physically with me, she is still with my in spirit and is my beacon in everything I do.

My mother loved Buddha statues.  When she was a child, her father traveled a lot.  When he was gone, she would always ask him to bring her a treat when he came home.  One time he brought her a Buddha figurine.  She always thought the  figurines would bring her luck so it was no surprise that the one of the charms my mother selected for my bracelet was a Buddha statue.  When she gave it to me, she told me that was so both she and the luck of Buddha would always be with me.

My mother passed away on October 17, 2016.  Before her memorial service, I moved both the bee charm and the Buddha charm to another bracelet.  I am lost without my Mom, but I feel like she is always with me.  The Buddha and the bee on my bracelet remind me that was raised by strong women to be a strong woman and I will be okay–maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but eventually I will be okay.

This blog is my reminder of better days of the Buddha, Bee and me.