When I went to Italy in 2004 I met Katherine Wallach (actor Eli Wallach’s daughter). She has a home in Tuscany. Katherine designs jewelry and I had an opportunity to see some of her pieces while I was in Tuscany. It was then that I saw a unique charm necklace that Katherine had designed with 13 13s on it.
I wanted a bracelet with 13 13s, but at the time Katherine did not have such a piece (she does now). I thought about that bracelet for years. About three years ago I started collecting 13s when I ran across them for a 13 13s bracelet. When I had collected seven I sent them to my North Dakota jewelry designer Tamra Kriedeman and asked her to devise the remaining 13s when she had time. My kids followed up with her and for Christmas this year I received from them the bracelet that I have been imagining since 2004.
Now, I have my own one of a kind 13 13s bracelet. It was well worth the wait. When Katherine made the original 13 13s necklace it was because she fancied 13 as her favorite number. 13 is not my favorite number. It also is not a dreaded number to me (you probably already deduced that). To me 13 13s have a very specific meaning – they mean I make my own luck. 
Day one thousand two hundred and seventy-one of the new forty – obla di obla da
Ms. C