30 Days of Thanks: Day 4

4. I am thankful for Etsy.

After the loss I started looking for some way to memorialize our child. I had tossed all my HPTs since I figured I would have more with darker lines. Keeping something I've peed on kinda weirds me out anyway. It was too early for an ultrasound or for us to buy anything for the baby. I had nothing in remembrance. I thought it might be nice to have some jewelry, a bracelet or necklace, that I could wear all the time. So I posted on a TTC after loss message board asking them if they had any ideas. One of them suggested I look on Etsy as you can get some pretty cool personalized stuff there.

I have actually gotten some gifts there before and had a good experience so I decided to take a look. I found Metal Stamped Memories, a shop dedicated to memorial jewelry. Unfortunately the owner of the shop suffered her own loss and now uses her pain to make beautiful pieces for other grieving parents. You can personalize the necklaces with your own phrase and the name of your child. Our loss was too early to know the gender/pick a name, but I messaged the seller and she was more than happy to accommodate my situation and put a date instead.

A few days earlier someone on my Facebook posted this Winnie the Pooh picture and I immediately associated it with my loss. I even posted it myself without comment to the meaning I took from it. When I found out I got to pick which phrase I wanted on the necklace I knew it would be inspired by this quote.

forever in our hearts 10-21-12

The necklace arrived much quicker than I expected. I think the Etsy page said it could take two or three weeks to get here, which is reasonable for a hand crafted item such as this. I got it in 10 days! I love it and I know I will cherish this necklace for as long as I have it. I haven't taken it off since I received it yesterday and I don't plan to. I know I would never be able to get something as nice as this, for as cheap as it was, if it wasn't for Etsy. I know that this purchase has not only helped me, but also the individual who made it by providing income. I'm not a crafty person myself but I know some people who make items like this and making a living doing what you love is hard. But through Etsy I was able to help them rather than put more money in a CEO's pockets. I have been very pleased with all the interactions I've had on the site and will definitely use it in the future.