I lost my dad 5 years ago, who was like my best friend, and I was an obsessive daddy’s girl for sure. His words to me an hour before he died were that I had to step up and look after Mum for him – be her best friend and her go-to when she needed it. I did just that. I immensely enjoyed a newfound mother-and-daughter relationship that I had not experienced before. We spoke every day, she did craft fairs with me, helped with the preparation of my wedding and so much more.
Mum and I went to Australia for 6 weeks against the advice of her consultant, who had taken biopsies a few days before we left. When we got back, within two days we were sitting with an oncologist who told us it was terminal and we didn’t have long. Mum died in March. As my brother lives in Australia, he wanted to take part of Mum and Dad’s ashes back with him, so we had them mixed together – a wish of my dad and later my mum.
After Hand on Heart made a beautiful silver heart for my daughter when her baby was born, it seemed fitting to have a memorial item made with Mum and Dad’s ashes too. So my order for four identical blue resin hearts with stunning engraving arrived this week. We are all beyond thrilled. They are aesthetically forever in our hearts as well as literally.
My parents were incredibly supportive grandparents to my two daughters, and their necklaces mean the world, as they had an amazing relationship with them and were so close. The fourth necklace was for my mum and dad’s best friend. Her husband passed away first, and so the four musketeers were reduced to three. Now there is only one, and to try and bring some peace to her very broken heart, I had a blue heart made for her too.
My mum and dad were two incredible people who touched the lives of so many, and both will be forever missed by their daughter, granddaughters and best friend, who will all have comfort from having a piece of them with them all the time.
A massive thank you to Donna at HOH for creating such beautiful pieces.
Ali xx
- Alison Parsons