It was some time over the weekend when Bebe got out a book on how to make friendship bracelets. I forget who got the book for her, my sister or I… but she has had it for a year and at one point tried to make a bracelet but struggled with the directions so she set it aside.
Did any of you grow up in the 80′s where string and yarn knotted bracelets were the “IN” thing to have? The more you could collect and make for your friends the more popular you were? I was a bracelet maker back in the day and though I only knew a few styles I remember taping the strings down to my desk, and working the knots, till they took on a design in colors picked by my friends – different friends had different colors. Embarrassing as it sounds, I made one for hubs when we were dating, he had one and I had the match. I wore mine on my ankle and he (I hope) wore his while he was stationed away from home in the Navy.
Watching her read over the directions and show me which ones she wanted to make brought back the memories of making my own friendship bracelets.
It must have been something I ate because I was suddenly overcome with a maternal instinct to pass along my knowledge on the art and my history of bracelet making to her. I showed her how to knot off the starting end, to 
separate, tape the strands down and even use a safety pin to unknot her mistakes.
I think I must be the alien because she looked at me with supreme wonder and curiosity that only someone seeing an alien for the first time would have done.
“You make bracelets?”
“Um…” Crap, now she knows I have a skill beyond yelling, “Well, I used to when I was in school.”
“How old were you?” Must we go there?
“About your age, I think” Great. Now we’ve given mom a number. Was that another gray hair I felt?
“No. Way.” Um… Yes. Way.
“Yup. I can make them. In fact, I still have one around here. It’s the one I made for your dad, let me see if I can find it.” Fabulous. Now we have proof mom actually liked dad at one point. There blows my cover… And like wildfire, word spread throughout the house that mom had a skill beyond diapers and screaming.
If only they knew.
Suddenly I became the Celebrity Alien in the house… A barrage of questions thrown at me;
“Can you show me how to make this knot?”
“How many did you make?”
“Can you make this one?”
Can we make some together?”
Aaahh yes, I have successfully passed along my vast knowledge of knotting threads together to form a pattern and design all in the name of crafting and friendship.
I may joke about it but in all honestly it was the best thing I’ve taught her this summer. It proves if nothing else that mom was once a girl (not an alien), who made things for all her friends just like the brown eyed, dimple-cheeked girl in front of me. It may not have been rocket science, my cure for the common cold or even the chicken and dumpling recipe that they swear is from scratch, but in her eight year old eyes, I had something important to share.
I had a piece of family history that transcends our gene pool and mattered to her. I had knowledge.
When she saw me work the knots and explained how to make the knots tight or remind to keep count with the each color, and how to measure to see how much longer her bracelet needed to be before it could be worn; she nodded and absorbed the information like I was passing on the keys to life and happiness ever after.
Who knows? Maybe I passed on more than my knowledge of a childhood pastime.
Maybe I gave her a lesson in history that will strengthen us as she grows older.
I can’t be sure of that, but I’ve picked out embroidery floss in the colors of light blue, white, and lavender to start with and we will see where it goes from there.
Yet another reason I need a girl…Who am I going to pass my own bracelet knotting skills down to. *sniff*
I hope the two of you enjoy making them together and take advantage of the celebrity status while you can!