Something to hold onto.

My father had just lost his wife, his best friend of 57 years. In their later years, my parents were nearly inseparable. They spent their days together, talking, watching movies, and simply sitting side by side. They were always together. The day she died, he called me and asked whether I could make something he could keep close. I had been carving gemstones and making jewelry. He asked for a small black stone necklace, engraved with a cross and inlaid with a small amount of her ashes. That was the first Remember Me Gem.

Making that first Remember Me Gem for my dad was the most emotional work I had ever done. I could only work on it for ten or fifteen minutes at a time, not because it was technically difficult, but because it was my mom’s ashes, and I was making it for my dad. I would begin working, find myself crying, and need to step away before I could continue. When it was finished, I engraved her initials on the back. He came over to pick it up. When I placed it in his hand, he kissed it several times, then held it quietly.

I already had a business carving gemstones when my sisters began encouraging me to make pieces like Dad’s for other families. One of them came to see my stonework because she was interested in being involved, and both of them kept telling me that this was something we should share. I was reluctant, not because I doubted the work, but because I knew how personal it was. If we were going to do this, I didn’t want to do it alone. I wanted it to be something we built together. Remember Me Gems exists because my sisters saw something in that first piece and kept encouraging me to take the next step. We are building it as a family, and each gem is made with the care that kind of work deserves.