As I was listening to a bereaved wife tell me the story of her late husband’s passing I couldn’t help but notice the parallels of her husband to mine. Her husband had just turned 50 years old. He was in the best shape of his life. Working out, eating healthy, the lowest body fat percentage he had ever had. He kept reminding her and their daughter that he was staying fit and feeding his body amazing nutrients so that he could be there for them for a long time. These same words have come out of my own husband’s mouth. He also recently turned 50, has 1 daughter that he adores beyond words, and can’t wait to see her hit all her milestones. I tuned back to the conversation but couldn’t help but feel a nagging thought creep in: Why him? Why so young? Why when he’s in the best shape of his life? It didn’t make sense to me, and I don’t think it ever will.
There is a feeling you get when you lose someone too soon. I know it always feels too soon when you lose your loved one, but in this situation, 50 years old is just way too soon. That feeling is of being robbed. I felt that this young husband was robbed of so many memories yet to be built; So many moments yet to be experienced; So much joy and love yet to be felt.
The reason why this sweet woman had contacted me was because she was ready to create something truly remarkable as a remembrance keepsake using her husband’s beautiful fingerprint. The funeral home who had helped her had also given her his fingerprint so that she could create a remembrance keepsake with it.
The more stories I heard about her husband, the more I realized that this is a great man who deserves his legacy to live on. His wife and I had agreed that a fingerprint memorial necklace would be the best way for him to live on eternally, and for her and her daughter to be able to hold his hand again. Something that many people don’t realize is the power that these remembrance necklaces can have on a grieving soul. I feel that the people who truly understand and embrace the power of these keepsakes are the ones who have experienced profound loss themselves. I hear it time and time again. Whether you have been married for 60 years or only had the joy of being with your soul mate for 4 years, the one thing that you absolutely yearn for is to be able to feel them one last time. One last hug. One last kiss. One last time holding their hand. Giving people a chance to hold their lost loved one’s hand again is the reason why Forever LT even exists.
We ended up creating a set of keepsakes. One for his wife, one for his mom, and one for his sister. I learned that all the ladies in his life had different nicknames for him. Every time he would call, text, or send a card, he would sign his name with the specific nickname that they had given him. I asked his wife to see if she could find these handwritten cards and send me pictures of his sweet signature of all his aliases.
We were able to create stunning remembrance keepsakes using his unique and beautiful fingerprint, and to make it even more special, we were able to engrave his signatures on the back of the necklaces and personalize each keepsake to the person receiving them.
I wish I could bring him back. I wish I could put the pieces of his wife’s broken heart back together. Her grief and pain are so palpable that I can literally feel it through the phone. I know none of these things are humanly possible, but at the moment, when I am packing up the finished memorial keepsakes to send to his wife, I can’t help but take a moment and think about the honor that was given to me. It is an honor to have a small part of creating a fingerprint keepsake that will be cherished, shared, and talked about for the rest of the necklace wearer’s life. It is a way to be a tiny part of their healing process but also a big part of allowing the grand legacy of this husband, father, son, and brother to live on eternally.
My hope is that one day, when his daughter has children of her own; she tells her kids stories of her amazing dad. I hope that as she loses herself in the incredible tales, she reaches down to her neck, finds his fingerprint keepsake, and holds her father’s hand as she shares all the amazing memories that they had together.