"You know I love the stories behind women's jewelry . . . especially the concept of reinventing meaningful and emotional pieces. Trude Irons story really touched me. The idea that a ring of mourning, sadness and memories became a ring of hope, light and a future filled with new memories really spoke to me...just love it!" Xox
monica
Here is Trude's story:
As hands go, my Gram's were long, strong, and old. I watched those hands knead bread, do laundry, garden, cook, play scrabble and the piano. Those big hands that so often held mine were hands of hard work. It seemed peculiar then that she wore a very large wedding ring. A black rectangle attached to a gold band that reached nearly to her knuckle. In the lower right corner within the blackness, was a diamond. When it was time to work, Gram would slide the ring off her finger, and place it on a tiny silver tray. There the ring would wait for her return with clean hands soft with lotion. When it was time to play the piano, I'd sit next to Gram on the piano bench waiting for her to remove the ring and slide it down upon my thumb. That she entrusted me with her treasure, swelled me with pride and vanity to spare. At precisely the right measure my bejeweled hand would reach and turn the sheet music pages. In time, I came to see Gram's ring was not like other wedding rings. Once glorious to behold the ring came to look sinister and dark. Yet I never asked how she came to have a black wedding ring. In her 82nd year, I watched Gram take off the ring one final time, and put it into my mother's hand. The power of the moment surpassed only when my mother, at the same age, tucked the ring into my hand. After the death of Gram's first husband she wore a black ring of mourning. When my Granddad, the only man I'd known to be her husband, asked for her hand, he set a diamond into her mourning ring, like a bright new star to shine in the darkness. Thank you to Monica Rich Kosann for selecting the winner and Congratulations Trude! Thank you for sharing your beautiful story. We hope the Monica Rich Kosann Carpe Diem Necklace becomes your modern heirloom! | 
