When your loved one can’t get to their favorite island, you can bring the island to them! That’s what I did for my Mom’s 70th birthday gift. As a cancer survivor, her chemo ordeal left her with searing nerve pain in her legs, which has made it impossible for her to travel more than a half hour to anywhere – which meant there was no chance for her to get from New Jersey to Hawaii, her favorite place on earth and the location of our most memorable family vacation ever.

When I saw that Dune Jewelry had several Hawaiian shells in their Sandbank, I made a stealthy call to Mom to ‘reminisce’ about our Hawaiian family vacation…and I got her to remind me that it was Waimea Bay that was her absolute favorite beach of that trip. Bingo!  I quickly requested a Sandbead with Shells from the Big Island.  Even though this was the very same week when the owner, Holly Christensen had her baby girl, the Dune Jewelry team got our Sandbead to us in no time at all!

Waimea Bay, Hawaii

Mom was going to flip, and that pretty little hawaiibirthday-blogsand-colored gift box sat on my kitchen table through several re-schedules of her birthday lunch. Chemo nerve pain doesn’t take a break for social outings.

And soon, we were seated by a lake at a wonderful restaurant for Mom’s 70th birthday lunch, so grateful that she even made it to 70 after her ultra-scary stage 4 cancer diagnosis and grueling treatments and recovery. As she opened it, you can see her figuring it out and then being overjoyed!  She couldn’t get to Waimea Bay, but Dune Jewelry brought Waimea Bay, Hawaii to her.

hawaiibirthday-blog2So if you have any cancer survivors in your circle of loved ones, you can make them feel better about any travel impossibilities they now face as the price of their survival, by bringing them a little bit of their favorite place on earth.

And if you have any current cancer-fighting warriors, their Sandbead, Dune Bar or other Dune Jewelry design can be an inspiring gift of “We’re going to go here when you’re all better.” And it will give them strength, hope, a look forward to when they beat their cancer and eventually find themselves on their favorite beach in the world, promised by you. A positive attitude is everything, and hope is everything when you’re in a battle…and every day your loved one sees that Dune Jewelry piece you gave them, they’ll be lifted up.


 

This post was written by Sharon Naylor, a Dune Jewelry customer who sent us this beautiful letter with photos. Thank you, Sharon! We love to hear all the great stories behind the pieces made for our customers. It makes us feel so much more connected to you all.