This has been a story almost 3 years in the making. It’s near and dear to my heart. It’s been an oral story, simply being told from memory for the past 3 years. I tell this story any time a child asks me, “Whats the sparkly thing in your nose?” Being a Preschool Teacher, this happens quite a bit. Of course, I tell them the truth eventually, that I do indeed have a nose ring. But it never gets old to see the looks of amazement on their faces as I tell the story. So, I figured it was about time I sit down and record this silly story in print. And today, I release to the masses. Please enjoy Amelia and the Diamond Freckle.
“Hi, my name is Amelia O’Connel and I have a diamond freckle. Can you see it? Look really close now? Closer!There, Can you see it now? Right there on the tip of my nose.
I know what you’re thinking. “what an odd place for a diamond. Why don’t you wear your diamonds on your ears or around your neck or something?” Well, I didn’t get to pick where I put my diamond. You see, I was born with it. Yes, it’s true. I, Amelia O’Connel was born with a diamond freckle in my nose. Oh, don’t look at me like that. I’m not the only girl in this world who has ever been born with a diamond freckle in her nose. There are a lot of girls who have diamond freckles in their little noses… well at least with diamonds on their face. My mother, and my grandmother, and my great grandmother, and my great great grandmother and my great great great grandmother… and all my grandmothers before that… even my great great great great great great great GREATEST grandmother. You better believe it! My great great great great great great great GREATEST grandmother was born with a diamond freckle in her nose. I’ve got her picture with me right here!
Shall I tell you the story of how my great great great great great great great GREATEST grandmother came to be born with a diamond freckle in her nose? Well, I guess the story really starts with her mother, my great great great great great great great GREATEST great grandmother, Felicia. I think she kind of looks like me.You see, she lived in the far, far, really FAR away place called Ireland. Grandmother Felicia had just married my great great great great great great great GREATEST great grandfather, Garrard. They say my Grandfather Garrard was an adventurer. He traveled all across the world looking for pretty things like paintings or flowers, but Grandmother Felecia always liked when he brought home pretty things to wear. Those were her favorites. And one year, on her birthday, my Grandfather Garrard brought her home a diamond necklace. He must have loved Grandmother Felicia a lot. They loved each other so much, and my grandmother treasured that necklace more than any other gift. She never took it off. When Grandfather Garrard was away on one of his adventures, it would help her remember that He loved her and he was always coming home. No matter how lonely she got.
But one night when grandfather was away on one of his adventures, a band of very mean men dressed in black worn out clothes and who wanted to steal everything came to the house (you could call them robbers if you wanted, I guess). Well t these men came to my Grandmother Felecia’s house one night and they told her they wanted all her stuff. She was so scared she just started running. But that band of very bad men- they saw the diamond necklace she was wearing and they wanted that too. So, they ran after her.But my grandmother was fast. She ran all the way to the mountains to hide in the hills. But the men finally caught up to her. The cornered my grandmother in a cave, and there was nothing else she could do. So, she did the only thing she could do: she swallow the diamond necklace.
Yes, you heard me right. She swallowed the diamond necklace. That woman was mighty brave. You might call her crazy, but her plan worked. When she swallowed the necklace, one of them men just started laughing. He must of thought my grandmother was crazy too. And all of a sudden, all the other men started laughing too. And so they let me grandmother Felelcia go home. They gave her all the stuff the had stolen back, and they even walked her back home.
But the story isn’t over yet. That very night, Grandmother Felecia became really sick. That diamond did not sit very well in her stomach. She was in a bed a whole week from stomach pains and bad dreams. But grandfather came home and she got better. And in a few months, she gave birth to a baby girl.But would you believe it that when that baby was born, they held her up to see what a beauty she was. And that’s when they saw it, the sparkly something on her cheek. Well, that sparkly something was tiny little bitty- you guessed it, diamond freckle. My great grandmother Illeanna was born with a diamond in her cheek. It was quite a sight to behold, and they just knew it was from that diamond necklace grandmother Felecia swallowed a few months before. They learned to live with it, and almost forgot about it until Ileanna -that’s what they named baby girl- grew up and had a baby girl of her own. And you know what, that baby had a diamond freckle too- only this one was kind of on the right side of her mouth, right about there.
And so, seventeen generations of baby girls and daughters and mothers and grandmothers later, here I am- a proud O’Connel girl with a diamond freckle in my nose, just like my mother and her grandmother and all the grandmothers and mothers before her. It’s know it’s different and maybe a little strange, but It’s a part of who I am. And you know what, I kinda love it.”
The end.
rebekah.eckard 