The quetzal

This is one of the first pins I acquired, at age 19, when I lived in Tucson.  It is in the shape of a quetzal, made of beaten silver.  It's from Guatemala, from the days before all fine crafts were obliterated in the civil war -- not earlier than the mid-60s.  It was a casual gift from Sybil Ellinwood, one of the grande dames of Tucson society in the 50's and 60s.  She was the best friend of my first mother-in-law.  They were of the last generation of women who entered into property marriages with the second generation sons of the men who first developed southern Arizona, then descended into dissipation and lost all the family money.  Sybil was a sharp-tongued alcoholic who should have been born 50 years later.  I was terrified of her, because she made fun of everything I said and did.  I couldn't have known that I would become who I am, and I look back at her as a tiny, sad woman who enjoyed feeling superior to a youngster out of her depth.

This pin fell off me one day, and landed on the sidewalk.  I knew it was surely lost, and was shocked when several hours later, I stumbled upon it again.  I knew then it was a little survivor, like me.

Here is a picture of it holding together the bodice of a linen wrap dress.