The story behind the locket.

 

One of my favorite movies is Baz Luhrmann's "Strictly Ballroom." Roger Ebert's review begins "The plot of Strictly Ballroom is as old as the hills, but the characters in the movie seem to come from another planet."

 

He's not wrong and that's why I love this movie. It's theatre basically, well literally, since it's on a current run in Brisbane and Melborne (boy do I wish I was in Australia). And theatre can get away with positing that ballroom dancing is a world famous sport. And if you just go with it and let yourself get swept up in the film, you won't regret it.

 

You know what happens.

 

Good overcomes evil. The boy gets the girl. The the villain gets his comeuppance. You laugh. You cry. And you learn something that I think everyone should hold on to:

 

"A life lived in fear is a life half lived."

 

So, when my niece graduated from college (she's actually the daughter of one of my best friends but she might as well be family) I wanted to make her something to help her when faced with a hard choice. Because, we all know that the older we get the frequency and difficulty of choices increase. And sometimes, out of fear, we neglect to take the good risks. Why?

 

Fear of disappointment. Fear of failure. Fear of letting people down.

 

And although that fear is OK to have, living in fear is not. Don't let your fear stop you. Don't let the fear of a bad outcome scare you off from a really good one!

 

That's why I made this locket for Lexi. For her to have a little talisman against fear.

 

It reads:

 

On the obverse "A life lived in fear is a life half lived." 

On the reverse "Vivir con miedo es como vivir a medias."

 

The front of the locket includes a removable monogrom medallion insert. I chose the make the locket this way to make her initials stand out. They are shown here in rose gold. It also gives her the opportunity to store a note or something special in the locket.