Kate Kyres

The Pearl Necklace
“We are born with the potential to create our own pearl necklaces. Our pearls begin to form as we move through life experiences. When an oyster’s solitude is invaded – say by a grain of sand – it responds to the invader by secreting nacre, a light but incredibly strong mother-of-pearl substance. Over the years, the oyster diligently secretes its powerful nacre, layer upon layer, until a pearl is formed—one pearl unlike any other created in nature.
As meaningful life experiences invade our solitude, we too shape our pearls. Some enter college with nascent strands. When I entered a private women’s college, my irregularly shaped pearls were layered with nacre.
In the summer of 1977, I turned thirteen. At that time, domestic violence and child abuse laws were not meaningfully written or enforced. A summer evening encounter with a police officer created the most luminescent pearl on my strand when I witnessed the perverse allocation of power.”