I had very little work last week, so I took the opportunity to complete things I had been putting off.

I had a cleaning service come in to my home to do some deep cleaning – which of course meant I had to pre-clean for them.

I went to the dentist and had my bi-annual hygiene appointment – only four months after it was originally scheduled.

And I finally got around to taking a favorite necklace into a jeweler to have it repaired.

The necklace, a black and iridescent green charm on a silver chain, was a gift from a friend, and had not been worn for close to a year.

It didn’t feature a gemstone and probably wasn’t super expensive, but it was purchased from an artisan, not a jeweler or department store, and I appreciated the way it seemed to dress up an outfit without any pretension.

One day, maybe a year ago, I planned on wearing it and couldn’t get the arm of the clasp to slide inside the last link.  I assumed I had lost the last little ring, which was wider than the other links, and that the clasp couldn’t grab onto it.

I even went to Michael’s, a craft store that sold jewelry making supplies, and purchased a small plastic envelope of 1/4” diameter rings.  I thought I could fix the piece myself.

But I couldn’t open any of the new rings enough to hook it into the existing chain.  I figured I needed special tools, and decided I would take it in to some sort of fixer.   That was a common attitude I grew up with.

When I figured out that I couldn’t do something myself, all I needed to do was find the right kind of expert, and he would fix things for me.

But the necklace just sat in my top left drawer for months.  I only missed it occasionally and when I did miss it, I just renewed my promise to take it in and made do with one less choice on how I would accessorize.

I went online to find some jewelry stores near my home, looking for repair services and favorable Yelp reviews.

Can you fix this?  I think it needs a new catch and a link.

I fished the necklace out of my jeans’ pocket and placed it out the glass counter at G.V. Jewelry Store after they buzzed me through two front doors.

Two men, brothers, I think, in a family business, stared at the piece and one took it into the backroom for two minutes.

When he emerged, he reported:

Nothing’s broken. Nothing’s missing.  It’s silver.  Silver is a soft metal.  The opening just collapsed on the end link, so you couldn’t get anything through.

How much do I owe you? I asked, and the brothers just waved their hands.

Nothing.

I was happy that the evaluation was free but upset because I was so vested in the idea of needing a repair.  After all, I didn’t wear the necklace for almost a year.

I believed something was broken when it wasn’t.  I believed the necklace couldn’t be worn because a piece was missing or because the catch didn’t operate correctly.

The only thing that was faulty was my thinking. The chain was just acting in accordance with its nature.

It cost nothing for me to dangle the crafted charm around my neck again and earn compliments from people who liked unique jewelry designs.

And, while I so often balk at FREE advice, the jeweler’s short explanation of the problem, would have been worth paying for.

Isn’t a mind like a silver chain link?  Because it’s soft, it can close up.

When you decide what a problem is about before really understanding the nature of everything involved, you can delay applying the best remedy.  Isn’t it a boon to remember to stay open?

Unexpected insight, even on an everyday matter, is no small thing.