Gratitude, Awareness and Appreciation

I was thinking about appreciation and taking things for granted, when my mind wandered back to the 2010 Gem and Mineral Show in Tucson.

That year my daughter and I rode more shuttle vans to and fro ,thinking it would be a time saver (not!). The good that came from riding the shuttles, was the conversations that we got involved in ,as well as, the people we met. We encountered a lady who had come from Vancouver Canada, doing her yearly shopping for her gift store she owned. She was an interesting gal that we plied with questions about government health care and immigration. Her answers were enlightening. But health care and immigration aren’t the point of this message. There’s something else I want to address here. In another spot we met two gals from Bermuda doing their shopping, as well as, a couple from England buying all that they needed for a years supplies. She had a list she was shopping by and I commented on not ever being able to follow a list myself. That’s how the conversation started. They had to be very specific with what they purchased, because if they ran out, they couldn’t re-order because it was so expensive to ship. They had to come to Tucson to shop as they couldn’t find what they needed anywhere in Europe. That really surprised me, as I was under the impression Europe had it all. The grass always seems greener on the other side, doesn’t it? Well back to my point….in the course of listening all the people we met, I began to see I was one lucky lady. First off, I only travel two hours to get to Tucson and maybe a tank of gas. I don’t have to stay an extended length of time but I can come and go as I please, over a two week period. If I forget something, I can always drive back down. I don’t have to think so far in advance but can buy what pleases me on impulse. The lady from England had to be precise in her shopping. We were in SII Findings when we met and I can’t imagine trying to buy a years worth of findings, not knowing what I may design in the year ahead. SII Findings is located in Phoenix and I can order on-line with free shipping or I can go to the store in person and purchase what I need. Any other dealer I met at the show, I can reorder without a huge expense in shipping as it all comes to me from the USA.

Rough Slab

I never really stopped to think about how others have to get their product to conduct business. I’m blessed to be where I am and I never saw it before as i just took it for granted. Just think how much someone has to add to the finished product when they’ve traveled such long distances to get that product.

Claudia and pearls at the Gem Mall

I don’t think I ever appreciated my location or circumstances in which I find myself, so close to the most amazing Gem and Mineral show in the world, plus suppliers in my own city or a call or a click away from an over-nite delivery.

If you’ve never been to the Tucson Gem and Mineral show I entreat you do so for just the experience alone. We spent a week there this year and we still felt we were in a rush and hurry and still had not seen it all. It’s like having “your eyes bigger then your stomach ” syndrome. People selling there from all over the world and when you’re shopping you hear accents and foreign languages spoken everywhere.

The African village, because of it’s dirt lot location, really does feel like you’ve arrived on that continent. The sounds and the smells of food cooking, the vendors in their traditional, colorful African garb, and the language being spoken, makes one feel that they have arrived in a small far far away.

The areas of the show that display minerals, large and small, make one stand in awe at the creation that is found under the earth. As humans, we’re smug with our creative accomplishments, but when you behold the beauty that’s hidden, it takes your breath away, as we marveled at “how can that be found down there?”

I’ve always come home with more than just beads and findings. I’ve come home with rugs,furniture,fossils,tapestries,tassels and large mineral specimens. But more than that I come home with the experience of seeing newly discovered minerals and a wonderful opportunity to experience the world in my own backyard and meet interesting people.

Since this epiphany, I try to look a my surroundings and opportunities with appreciation. I bet wherever you live, there is something special that only you get to experience and the rest of us would have to travel to see.