The Tale of the Pearl

It all started when Garrett saw something that got him excited (surprised right?).  He saw an episode of Wild Kratts on PBS involving clams with pearls in them.  He immediately came to me and asked for his Trio blocks.  He wanted to build a grappling hook so that he could catch some closed clams for me and get me some pearls.  In fact, he wanted to get me 100 closed clams to open and give me 100 pearls for Mother's Day.  Melt my heart - my sweet Garrett.  I didn't have the heart to break it to him that we were no where near water where we could find such a thing.  Nevertheless, he built his grappling hook to catch the clams.

After a week of this, we were planning our trip to the beach.  Garrett now even more excited that he might find me pearls was all set.  When we hit the beach the first day, he kept picking up shells looking for "closed clams".  Finally, he found a tiny one (about a centimeter) and exclaimed, "I found  closed clam for you mom just 99 more to go!".

I was thinking back to a trip to California when I was growing up and you could "pick-a-pearl" from a tank and open it to see if you have a pearl.  So one night when we were still at the beach, I got online and looked all around Myrtle Beach for a "Pick-a-Pearl".  Since it  wasn't yet "season", I couldn't really find any BUT I did find a place on ebay that you could buy a "oyster-in-a-can" that had been x-rayed and guaranteed to have a pearl in it.  I found it at The Wish Pearl and ordered it immediately - it came with a sterling silver necklace to display the pearl for just $20.  I didn't mention anything to Garrett for another week . . .

Finally the package came:

We had some friends over and we all put on our gloves to crack open the oyster.

I had a captive audience

And there it is a light pink pearl - Garrett was all smiles so happy he finally got one for his mommy!

I proudly put it on and he asks me to wear it every day! 

He later asked how much it was.  I told him $20. 

He said, "ok now I only need 99 more $20 bills to get you 100 pearls"  . . .