all hands on deck

is just the name of the webpage i got this picture from:


Johnny Depp has this bracelet that he always wears. You can see it in the picture. It looks like a cheap little thing that probably cost close to nothing to make.
Not true.
Because it's something his kid made for him.
Cheap? No. Au contraire the bracelet is priceless and, less ugly.

And I really want one.


Which I have been wanting for some ample amount of time now. An ugly little bracelet that would stick out like a sore thumb, a possible testament to a bohemian lifestyle full of such discordances (or so I'd like people to think haha!), but in reality just a small but incredibly significant reminder that I'm not alone here. And I would wear with it pride, because whether someone put their whole heart or just two seconds of passive thought into making it, they did it for me.
(I would now like to give a shout out to Rachel Tennant for blessing me last year with not one but two of these, albeit they were not ugly at all. =) Thank you.)


The sad truth, or the beauty of it I guess, (however you choose to look at it) is that the beauty and charm of the bracelet all lies in the gifting, and I guess I should also credit the making of, the item. The significance lies in the "hey, I thought about you," and it changes whatever mismatches, oddities, and awkwardnesses of a string of plastic kiddy beads you never really expected to WEAR into something that you can't wait to put on.

Why did I call this the sad truth?
Simply because sitting on the floor of my friend's game room last night, I decided to make for myself this ugly bracelet that I so coveted, that I so yearned to have nonchalantly dangle from my wrist. It'll still look the same I thought. An ugly plastic beaded bracelet.

And sadly, that was all I had when I was done. An ugly bracelet. If I were to wear this bracelet (which I am now but not for long), I really would have NOTHING to say for myself. In fact it would be my bracelet that would be screaming out, "Hello! My maker has no sense of style, pattern, matching, and her age!"

However. It would be entirely different had my friend made the bracelet for me. Or if it had been anyone of significance. Then the bracelet would be saying, "Look, someone cares about this person, and she cares about them."


And another thing. I can pretty much guarantee that anything someone makes for someone else just WILL NOT be ugly. Not because "it's the thought that counts," but because ... would you really give something to someone thinking that it was ugly? Exactly. These things are unmistakably made beautifully anyway.

But the thought does count. So no worries.

Now please someone, make me a damn bracelet.


and don't you dare forget to wear mine. =)