I will never win an Oscar, the French Open, or a Nobel Peace Prize. I will never walk down the red carpet while crowds cheer my name. While most people dream of becoming rich and famous I had the pleasure of experiencing complete satisfaction and joy without any notoriety at all. As a matter of fact I knew that complete success had been achieved when no body at all noticed my work.

Last year I had a client of mine bring me a challenge. It seemed that his mother had suffered a stroke and some where between her house and the hospital a necklace that she had worn, that was custom made by her late husband some 20 years earlier, came up missing. Although the stroke had left her with physical and mental challenges it left the memory of this diamond pendant well intact. Even on her worst days she would ask, “Where did my necklace go?” He would remind her that it was lost only to be asked again another day.

He and his wife decided to secretly rebuild the necklace. They did not want anyone to know as she had no money and the expense of taking her into their home had made a huge impact to their financial situation. I mentioned this was a challenge because this pendant had hung around her neck so long that no one could tell me a thing about it. It was so much a part of her that her family no longer noticed it – kind of like a mole or scare. For weeks they sifted through pictures trying to find one with enough detail to help. We spent hours drawing and redrawing this pendant. Finally we sent the sketches to the wax carver, the wax to the caster, and the casting and diamonds to the jeweler. With great satisfaction I delivered the piece and the waiting began. The plan was to wait for a time when she asked for her necklace and then he would remove it from the box, tell her he had it cleaned and place it on her neck. We were praying that she would accept it as hers.

Little did I realize the torment I would go through; I had nightmares of her screaming, “This is not mine – what did you do with my necklace? Three days later I got the simple, quick phone call. He informed me that he did as planed and she simply stated, “Thank you, it is so shinny.”

I occasionally see her as her grandson plays in the High School Orchestra with my son. She knows me as “the jewelry lady” and she lights up every time she sees me. As I compliment her on her beautiful necklace I wonder if she is keeping a secret of her own or if her son and I pulled off ours.