gems

It's currently my birthmonth and birthweek, which is probably my favourite time of the year. I love the end of summer anyway, but having my birthday during it makes it even more enjoyable. My birthday plans for this year are non-existent so here's a little throwback to a previous one.

 This isn't really about crystals and gems and what people use them for. That's not really my thing - I just think they're pretty. I couldn't even tell the names of a lot of these since my visit was quite a wee while ago. (2015?) I'd always wanted to go to the Kemi Gemstone Gallery, so when my mum took me there for my birthday I was excited. The Gemstone Gallery is the largest in Europe, and in addition to the gems it also houses replicas of famous jewels - for example the Crown Jewels and Marie Antoinette's diamond necklace. And they also have a model of the King of Finland's crown that was designed for a German Prince (Frederick Charles) who would've become the King of Finland in 1918 if Finland had actually ended up a monarchy as was initially planned.

Honestly, it wasn't about the gemstones, crystals, crowns or even history for me, though. I loved seeing all of them and I had a lovely visit. But as cliché as it sounds it was the thought behind it. There's a lot of things in my family that happened "before my time" and to my own and everyone else's annoyance reminding everybody about how I have missed out on events, places and such has always been my thing. Sometimes because I truly am either annoyed or hurt by having missed out on something, sometimes because I seem to be the only one who remembers that I wasn't born or there for a particular happening, and sometimes just to be a twat. It doesn't matter whether it's a family trip that happened before I was born or just a little anecdote or conversation from the past I wasn't part of. It doesn't matter whether it is purposefully brought up that I was not part of something or just forgetting about me. The constant "oh, that was before your time", "we didn't do that when I came along/was little/alive", "no, that wasn't me" and what-nots have often left me feeling like an outsider. And, although just a little thing, one of those was going to the Gemstone Gallery. Everyone else in my family (and a lot of other people, too) had been to the gallery, they'd taken visitors to the gallery, my school used to do a school trip to the gallery every year before my time, and I cannot remember not talking about wanting to go myself, looking at the tiniest little gems that my father and siblings had gotten on their visits. Was disappointed when my school didn't do a field trip to the gallery anymore, was disappointed when my parents didn't take me. And never really thought of just going on my own, which I obviously could have done.

So, finally getting to go in my 20s was the most thoughtful gift. And that is the best kind. Really loved the gallery and the gems, really enjoyed my time with my mum, really appreciate meaningful things like this over something fancy and expensive. And I now have one less thing I've missed out on to moan about.