Your relationship with each person in your life is as individual as they are. Memories from time spent with them may hit at any time. A song, a smell, a saying can pull you back to a time you spent with them, laughing, enjoying life. That’s good. It’s the way it should be. But when you’ve lost someone you love, those memories can be bittersweet. Those same memories that used to make you smile can sting. That’s ok. That’s the price of love. Some, who haven’t been in your shoes may tell you to move on, the past should be in the past. But when you love someone, that love doesn’t end just because they are no longer here. It’s ok to remember, to honor them, to smile and be thankful for the time you had with them. That’s especially true when the loved one you’ve lost is a child. Children are a part of us, a piece of us. Memories can flood back without warning and take your breath away. But having something that helps you feel like a piece of them is still here with you brings comfort. Just as every person and personality is different, everyone has something that is important to them, something that when you see it, you say “That’s her!”, “That’s him!” It just speaks to you. For these moms, sharing a little piece of what made their child special or what was important to them, helped me create a piece they can keep with them wherever they go.
“I Love You to the Moon to Infinity”
A mom who lost her daughter shared a phrase that she always said to her daughter, the one that was special between them, and told me her daughter’s favorite color was blue. I created turquoise suspended in a copper scroll moon for her to hang on her daughter’s memorial and sent it off to Australia for her. My son always wanted to go there. A friend who lives there visited when he was a teenager. He and I always talked about visiting her one day. He was never able to make the trip, but a piece of him (turquoise, his birthstone & the natural stones he loved), are there for him. Now, when the mom looks at this copper scrolled moon with suspended turquoise can smile at the memories of the saying “I love you to the moon to infinity”.
Pretty in Pink
One mom asked me to create a hot pink necklace for her. She and her son both loved hot pink. She wanted something he would “get” to wear whenever she wanted. I asked what her style was. Her reply was “As gaudy as you can get it” lol After looking at several pictures of styles she liked and what she was already wearing on her Facebook account, I created a statement necklace with a pink agate slice as the centerpiece, incorporating rose quartz and several other pink stones. She sent me a message when she opened it about how much it meant to her.
August Birthstones
A friend lost her son just a few months before mine. Seeing a bracelet I’d created as a wedding present for someone else (from an aunt, in memory of the bride’s parents who both had birthdays in August) she immediately asked if I would make two just like it for her and her daughter in memory of her son. The bracelet is made with sardonyx and peridot, two of August’s birthstones. She has been wearing it every time I see her. I asked if she always wore it. Her answer “Yes, I had no idea how comforting it would be.”
Guitar Hero
Not long after losing my son, I had the honor of meeting another mom who was facing the same thing. She asked me to meet her for lunch nearby. It was her birthday and she hadn’t been out much. I knew her son played guitar and wanted to create something special for her. I decided to make a guitar with a tree of life inside, signifying how much it meant in his life.
Phoenix-Rising from the Ashes
One mom contacted me to ask if I could create a phoenix in memory of her son. It was his nickname. I immediately responded YES!! I had been wanting to design one. Recovering from a serious accident in his teens, my son used the metaphor of the phoenix many times. I have used the pattern to create several others like it for others. One took first prize at an art show. It was the perfect piece to honor my son and the inspiration for launching WV3 Designs.
Pearl Perfection
A mom asked me to create a watchband for her. Her son had given her a watch and the leather band had broken. His birthstone was pearl and she was allergic to every metal except stainless steel. But that wasn’t the biggest challenge. She lives across the country from me and I was NOT going to ask her to send the watch to me for sizing and attaching to the band. If anything happened to it in transit, I would have felt terrible. She also wanted it to be more of a statement and not the standard strand of pearls. I was able to create a design that she could attach when she received it.