What It's Actually Like Wearing Something Your Grandma Gave You

If you're here from my post, you already know the short version. Grammy showed up with four little boxes. I thought it was kind of grandma-ish. Then I started clicking it and couldn't stop and now she gets a text from me every morning at 7:12.

That's the version that fits in a post. Here's everything else.

I get asked about my necklace almost every day.

Not "that's cute, where did you get it". More like people notice that I never take it off and eventually they ask why. My friends. My teachers. The girl who sits next to me in bio. Even my dentist asked once, which was weird because I was mid-cleaning.

The simple answer is: Grammy gave it to me.

The click is the part that gets you.

Once you start clicking it, you can't stop. It turns into this little ritual: pick a side, think about her for a second, go to school. That's it. I do it every morning now without even thinking about it. My hands just find it.

My sister does the same thing. She change hers to clover before every test and texts Grammy a photo. Every single time. She's been doing it for months without anyone telling her to.

My youngest sister needed help with the clasp when she first got hers. Once it clicked shut she looked at Grammy and whispered something I couldn't hear. Grammy told my mom later that she said "now you live on my neck."

She hasn't taken it off since. She sleeps in it. She showers in it. She talks to it before bed, clicks it back and forth and tells Grammy about her day like Grammy can hear her through the metal.

Maybe she can. It feels like it sometimes.

Chloe who's ten, FaceTimes Grammy before dance recitals and holds the pendant up to the camera and says "you're coming with me." Grammy cries every time. I'm not exaggerating. Every single time.

And Rosie. She's seven. She told her teacher that her grandmother lives in her necklace. Her teacher called my mom to check that Grammy was okay. She is. She just lives in a necklace now, apparently.

Here's the thing I didn't expect.

I FaceTime her now after things that matter. Not because she asks, because I want to show her which side I picked that day. I clicked to clover before my driving test and called her from the parking lot when I passed. I wore it on hearts the day my friend moved away and I texted Grammy at midnight just to say I was sad, because she's the only person who wouldn't tell me to get over it.

We talk more now than we have in years. Real conversations. Not "how's school" / "fine" / "okay love you bye." She knows about my friends, about the boy I like, about the panic attack I had before my presentation. She knows more about my life than most of my friends do.

That all happened because she gave us something real instead of money.

The thing about Grammy buying four at once.

My mom told me later that Grammy almost just bought one to see if I'd even like it. Then she stood there thinking about all four of us together and went back for three more. She said she's never been so glad she changed her mind.

I think about that sometimes. What would've happened if she'd only bought one. I would've worn it, sure. But it would've been my thing. Not ours.

Maddie wouldn't have started texting Grammy every morning. Rosie wouldn't have told her teacher that Grammy lives in her necklace. It just would've been me and a necklace. Instead it became... all of this.

If Grammy had only bought just mine, Maddie would've watched me texting Grammy every morning and felt left out. Rosie would've wanted one and Grammy would've had to order more later.

Instead we all started together and it just... became ours. All of ours. Grammy says that's the smartest thing she's ever done. Buying four at once instead of testing with one.

One thing that happened that I think about a lot.

Grammy gave us all ours that Sunday. But my cousin Lily was at her dad's house. She came over the next weekend and saw all four of us wearing them.

She didn't say anything. She just kept looking. Touching her neck where hers would be.

My aunt told Grammy that Lily cried on the drive home. Grammy overnighted one to her the next morning and apparently didn't sleep until she got the delivery confirmation.

I don't know why I'm including this except that it really happened and it's the thing I think about most when people ask about the necklace. Not the clicking part or the texting part. Lily's face when she didn't have one.

I should mention that I've worn this every day for seven months. Slept in it, showered in it, worn it through volleyball and rain and a very regrettable incident involving a go-kart.

The magnets still click exactly the same. Nothing's tarnished. Nothing's broken. I don't take care of it at all and it doesn't seem to care.

It's not just a necklace.

It's why Grammy went from being a Venmo notification to being the first person I call. For everything. Good stuff, bad stuff. She's just the person now. It's why four girls in my family wear the same pendant every day and text the same woman from all over and she saves every single photo.

It's why Grammy doesn't feel invisible anymore.

If you're a granddaughter and you want to send this to your grandmother as a hint, do it. She won't think it's weird. She'll probably cry. And then she'll figure it out.

And if you're a grandmother who ended up here because something you read made you think about your own granddaughter, you're not imagining it. She does want something from you. She just doesn't know how to ask because she's fifteen and she thinks she's supposed to want the money.

She's wrong. She'd trade every dollar you ever sent for one thing she could hold at 2 AM and feel like you're there.

One more thing. Grammy bought four because she has four granddaughters. She said the only thing she'd do differently is buy them sooner. But she'd never buy just one. "That's not how this works," she told me. "It works because it's all of you."

Grammy found ours here: www.hello-arlo.com

I asked Grammy once if she was nervous giving them to us. She said: "I was terrified. I thought you'd open it and wish I'd just sent money."

Grammy. Come on.

We would have worn it that same day even if it was ugly. It's from you. That's all that matters.

It's not ugly though. Just so we're clear. It's actually really pretty and it does this cool clicky thing and yeah. She did good.

She did really good.

If you really want to get the necklace today, simply click here to go to their website.