The Top Ten Things That Make Me Happy (#3)

Thing number three coming at you (and this time it's sentimental).

Several years ago my sister-in-law received a beautiful, enameled St. Christopher's Medal as a gift.  Her friend bought it at a small, main street jewelry store in the town where we grew up.

It's the kind of thing that people often stop to admire and/or inquire about.  In fact, after she got it, I was one of its biggest admirers.  (Perhaps "admire" isn't exactly the right word.  "Covet" might actually be more accurate but, really, who's keeping track?)

Well, apparently my sister-in-law was because a few years later, on the eleventh anniversary of my 29th birthday, she presented me with one of my very own:

St. Christopher's Medal

It's large (about the size of a fifty-cent piece) and rather striking.  But I don't just love it for its good looks.  (I'm not that shallow.)  What I love most about it is its significance.

St. Christopher was a Catholic Saint and, according to Wikipedia, "medallions with St. Christopher's name and image are commonly worn as pendants, especially by travelers, to show devotion and as a request for his blessing."  In light of this, all of the women in our family--each of whom lived in a different state--eventually received one.  The idea was that St. Christopher would watch over us as we traveled to see one another.  Although I'm not actually Catholic, I love the sentiment, and try to wear it whenever I fly.  

They come on various sizes and colors.  My sister-in-law's is pictured below, along with a small one she received upon the birth of her daughter.  Aren't they pretty?

Keep watching this space for "thing number four," coming soon!