Vision of a Happy Life A Memoir

While in Lahaina Town, I wandered into the various stores. I was entranced by the bold Hawaiian print shirts and dresses, and the many variations of jewelry that celebrated the flowers of the islands—plumeria, orchids, and birds of paradise. A striking ring caught my eye. It had three beautiful elongated white pearls nestled together like a flower sitting next to a piece of smooth black coral. The pearls and coral were embraced by a gold flowering vine. I tried it on. It fit my finger perfectly and its uniqueness captivated me. Without a second thought, I pulled out the credit card John gave me that morning. He told me to buy anything my heart desired, and so I did. In those days, almost forty-years ago, the clerk didn’t hesitate to take the prestigious American Express Credit Card with a man’s name on it, assuming I was using my husband’s credit card. I simply signed Mrs. John Stewart, Jr., and the $400 ring was mine. That was the beginning of a bad habit, but it was a heady time for me. I had married a wealthy man—an entrepreneur who owned a large home on several acres of land, a thriving grocery store and wholesale meat business, rental properties along the Southern Pacific Railroad, and a beach house near Santa Barbara—and I wanted the trapping that went with that wealth. I desired the jewelry, clothing and furs that I’d seen on the wives of his friends. My pedestrian clothing from J.C. Penney and Sears wouldn’t do now with my new life—I wanted things, beautiful things from I. Magnin and J.W. Robinson’s.