My friend is terminally ill. She doesn’t have long left and it’s truly broken my heart. She’s a mother of three and she hasn’t told her family about her diagnosis yet. I’ve tried to convince her that she needs to tell them, but she said that instead, she wants to commission custom earrings. In the Melbourne CBD, there are plenty of small businesses that make earrings, but I know one in particular who will do a great job. Whilst I don’t agree with this coping mechanism, who am I to tell my dying friend that she can’t do it? She’s going through more than I could ever imagine – it’s just such a tragedy.
She has two daughters and one son. Her daughters are going to get custom made earrings with their birthstones and their mother’s birthstone side by side. The son is going to be given a very simple necklace with the same thing, however, it’ll be more understated so that he can wear it every day if he chooses. My heart hurts just writing this.
When my friend goes she’s asked that I take her place as the mother figure in their lives. She has a loving husband and she’s very concerned about how he’s going to cope when she’s gone. They’re each other’s high school sweethearts and the type of couple that you expect would be together forever, but now they won’t be. My friend also made me promise that on each of their birthdays every year, I gift them a unique set of earrings that reflect who they are at the time. She’s already asked that for her eldest daughter’s birthday next year I give her sun moon earrings. It apparently has a symbolic meaning that I wouldn’t understand, and I didn’t want to ask. She is adamant that it’ll mean a lot to her daughter, and I believe her. It’d mean a lot to me too if I were her. I just wish she’d tell her family.