"The Jewelry Box" is designed to mirror a long-term relationship. It will pass through several stages in it's lifetime, and, in doing so, it's message and behavior will change. The amount of time it takes to pass from one stage to the next (hence the complete lifespan of the relationship) is, for the most part, in the hands of the owner: by the number of times the box is opened and the time that has passed since the last opening.
In effect, the artwork is about investment; both in precious objects (jewelry and/or artwork), as well as in relationships (human to human and/or human to technology); and the behavior of the object (e. g. the content of the messages) reflect this concept.
At the beginning of each stage, the piece estimates the maximum amount of times it can be opened before passing to the next stage, and the perfect length of time between openings. Ideally, each time the owner opens the box counts as one time only; but if it is opened too frequently or too seldomly, then "penalties" will be incurred, and the behavior of the object might change. Penalties are equivalent to "real" openings of the box. For example: the piece has not been opened for a month. The next time it is opened, 100 penalties are incurred. "The Jewelry Box", having been without the owner's attention for a month, has decided to add on an extra 100 times opened, thus hastening the point at which this stage of the relationship will end. The message from the piece also changes (e. g. it becomes "angry"), and this will influence the ideal opening time.

There will always be at least one perfect length of time to wait before opening the box (thereby getting no extra penalties and keeping the piece "content"). It might be a day, 4 days, a week, or longer; it will vary from stage to stage, and by the "mood" of the relationship at that particular moment. The Penalty Count always reflects how many times the box considers itself to have been opened at that particular stage. When a new stage is started, the Penalty Count is reset, and new parameters are calculated according to the attention of the owner during the previous stages.
Remember: at some junctures in the relationship it is best to open the box quite often, while at other times fewer penalties will be incurred by opening it rarely. The Jewelry Box could take 60 years to pass through all of it's stages to it's "finish", or it might take only 5. It is up to the owner to gauge the impact of his/her behavior on the piece, at any time, in each particular stage.