My great, great grandmother Regina Hyman came over from Poland on a boat, alone, at 15 to marry the son of a former neighbor, a man she’d never met. She made a home, first on the Lower East Side and then in Harlem. Her siblings who remained, 9 of them, were marched to the woods and killed before the war even began.

She had 5 daughters, who all had daughters of their own (who later had daughters of their own. Hi!) When my mother was in art school, my grandma Dottie gave her Regina’s turquoise and amethyst deco earrings, and because she was doing life right she promptly lost one. I heard about it a lot during childhood- the torturous guilt of the lost earring. It represented something. At my wedding, she strung the lone earring from a piece of ribbon and I wore it around my neck. Something borrowed.

Unbeknownst to me, she’s spent the last year working with a jeweler to recreate it, so that she could give me the intact pair for my 40th birthday and they could keep moving down the chain of women in our family, all of whom get to do what we do with our lives because of this one brave little girl. The story of so many immigrants is that they are the key to their family’s future. Their gift really keeps on giving.

Mario at Laura Jewelers did so well with this project that we are unable to tell which is the original and which is the fresh copy. We spent a full hour trying, and we’re still stumped.

Thank you mama. Thank you Regina🥹