He Wore It Every Day for Years. Then It Was Gone.

Wyatt turns 18 today.

My firstborn. Born in Kailua, on the windward side of Oahu, in the middle of a season of life that was new in every possible way. Drew had just landed his first post-instructor helicopter pilot job. We had moved islands right before Wyatt arrived - timing that turned out to be everything. I was home with him full-time, which I wouldn't trade for anything.

I didn't know then that a few years later I'd have three boys under six, and that the quiet pull toward making jewelry again would eventually turn into Tula Blue. I didn't know any of it.

I just knew I had this baby. And that life was big and full and moving fast.

He was born on April 22 after three days of labor. On Earth Day. He came into the world on the day we celebrate the planet - which, if you know Wyatt, feels exactly right.

Wyatt is 18 today, and I still feel that way - that life is big and full and moving fast.

The First Peacock Pearl

When I made Wyatt his Classic Pearl Necklace, it was the very first peacock pearl necklace I ever made.

I wore it first.

Wyatt had been having nightmares. And I put it on him - the way moms do things they can't fully explain - it was to protect him, to keep me with him at night. He felt it. 

He was young. The necklace hung long on him. And over the years, as he grew, the necklace sat higher and higher on him. It actually got quite snug around his neck.

He wore it every day.

Basketball practice. School. Trips. Ordinary Tuesdays. It was just always there. And I noticed - the way moms notice things - that it had become part of how I recognized him. Part of how he looked like Wyatt.

I loved that he had a part of me.

I never said that out loud. I just felt it.

The Day It Was Gone

He came home from basketball practice and told me it was gone.

I want to be honest about my reaction. You would have thought it was a diamond necklace. You would have thought something truly irreplaceable had been lost - and I suppose in a way it had.

We went back together and looked. I went back again on my own and looked. Checked the floor, the bleachers, the trash cans, and the lost and found. It was just gone.

Wyatt was upset, too. Which somehow made it better and worse at the same time. Better because it meant he understood what it was. Worse because I couldn't fix it.

There's something specific about losing a piece of jewelry that has been worn every day for years. It's not like losing something you occasionally wore. It's more like losing a small, quiet part of you.

He wore a different Tula Blue necklace for a while. Which was fine. It was good, even.

But it wasn't that.

And Then He Found Another One

Wyatt came up to the Tula Treehouse and found another peacock pearl Classic Pearl Necklace.

He put it on.

And it's been on ever since.

I love that he chose it himself. I love that it wasn't me replacing it - it was him knowing exactly what he wanted back. The same peacock pearl. The same Tula Blue rope.

It makes me happy every single time I see it on him.

That's the thing about jewelry that gets worn every day for years. It stops being jewelry. It becomes part of the person. And when it's gone, you feel the absence of it. And when it comes back you feel something that's hard to name but easy to recognize.

What This Taught Me About Jewelry

I've been making jewelry since 2006.

I've watched thousands of pieces leave the workshop and go out into the world. And what I know - what Wyatt's necklace reminded me - is that the pieces that matter most aren't usually the ones that cost the most. They're the ones that are just always there. The ones that can be worn for years. The ones that get looked for in a gymnasium at 9 pm.

The ones that, when they come back, feel like coming home.

That's what we're trying to make at Tula Blue. Every single time.

Happy 18th, Wyatt. I am so proud of you and who you are - and my dream for you is that you, too, find something you love to do so much it doesn't feel like work at all.

I put that necklace on you to protect you. Eighteen years later, that instinct hasn't gone anywhere. But I know it’s almost time for you to fly. I will be here for you and cheering you on, forever and always.

Love, Mom

Looking for a piece that becomes part of someone's story?

Classic Pearl Necklace - in peacock, blush, white, and more - is where most Tula Blue stories start.