It is not uncommon that I find my mind drifting to Hawaii. Since traveling there (twice!) last year, it is unquestionably my happy place, so long as I have my family at my side. Now stuck inside at home (along with much of the population), I long to be there more than ever.
Unfortunately, that’s not possible, so I—we—must do the next best thing: take a mental escape. As I write this, Thursday, it’s the first day of spring. The official introduction of the season has fallen a couple of days earlier than usual, thanks to a necessary tweak in our calendar that brings us the earliest spring equinox in more than 100 years (you can read more about it on Farmer’s Almanac, it’s actually quite interesting).
It’s dreary outside. Not the birds-chirping, flowers-blooming spring of my dreams. Though it never really is. But the temperatures are warming, enough to warrant opening windows, so at least there’s that. I sit in the fresh air, the mellow sounds of Hawaii playing in my ears, and I remember. I remember how hot the sun feels, how the fresh flowers blooming on the trees smell, how the chatter of the people passing by sounds. Oh, my gosh, people! It’s not been a week here in quarantine and yet it feels like ages ago when it wasn’t a scary thing to be around people. Even as an introvert I am reminded in this moment how much I love the presence of people.
One mental image I have of our most recent trip to Hawaii—and one that didn’t feel particularly important at the time—is of this pristine little shopping center we could walk to from our resort in Ko Olina.
The Ko Olina area feels more suburban than other areas of Hawaii we’ve been to, but it’s home to some amazingly beautiful beaches, and this shopping center that, apparently I’m just realizing now, made an impression on me. One of the stores I remember peeping? Maui Divers.
So now, several paragraphs into this long-winded introduction (words feel good right now), I’ll get to the point: Maui Divers has a new jewelry collection.
In celebration of the arrival of spring, Pearls in Bloom is a fit greeting for the season. Officially available Wednesday, the collection gifts us the beauty of the islands, with Tahitian and freshwater pearls and plumeria flowers eternalized in gold.
You can have your choice of that deep Tahitian luminescence, glowing green, purple, black, or opt for something lighter with freshwater pearls of peach or lavender. There are rings (just be careful with that hand sanitizer), necklaces where branches rest on dedicated chains for a straight-across style, and hoop-like earrings that harness the earlobe in flowers, dangling a pearl at the ends. These jewels are bright, happy, and at a price point that feels comfortable purchasing online.
I see the images and I am reminded—yet again, and it won’t be for the last time—of the power of jewelry. While the jewelry can’t send us all physically to Hawaii, it will serve to remind us that it’s there, waiting for us, once we’re able to get there again. Wherever it is you are wanting to go, wherever you want to be, look for the jewels that make you feel home (or away from home) in your heart.
The new collection is now available on mauidivers.com.
Top: Pearls in Bloom pendant in 14k yellow, white, and rose gold with 8 mm–9 mm Tahitian pearls and diamonds, $795
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