Meg Tilley Anderson

American

B. 1949-

Reliquary Triptych – Pink Tourmaline

My twelfth birthday present was a pink tourmaline ring from Aunt Connie. My mother's sister often said “Someday all this will be yours” because she and Uncle Joe were childless and planned to leave their estate to nieces and nephews. She was generous with practical gifts (furniture and tools) and baubles during her lifetime too. As a bank officer in Wyoming, she was able to pay a jeweler to mount the gems Uncle Joe brought back from World War II. He was a supply sergeant in post war Japan with opportunities to barter whiskey for tiny treasures. I left my ring on the sink in the dorm bathroom of the Schulerheim Brigittenau in 1963. Aunt Connie’s real legacy: take care of your things and treasure people while they are alive. You can't/shouldn’t count on them to have stuff to leave you when they die. ?