Late 1997

Michael and I suddenly find ourselves with two months to throw a respectable wedding together. Not a shotgun wedding, just a rush due to business needs & living situation circumstances. I’m working at the store one day and the mother of my sister’s boyfriend whirls in. I’ll have to introduce you here to Judy Nichols, choir and chorale director at our local high school, piano player at our church, general musical angel at large. She always has a kind word for everyone around her, a quick laugh, and a beaming smile on her face. I mention to her that I would be honored to have her play at my wedding, and she nods quickly, running over to the piano that we inexplicably keep in the store.

“Anything particular?” She asks.

“Well…” I am overwhelmed by this wedding planning thing, “I know that I don’t want the usual wedding march song, but I’m not really sure what else-”

“How about Canon?” Judy asks. I blink at her stupidly. I know so very little about music, especially anything classical. “Canon in D? You don’t know it?” Her fingers lightly pick out a wonderful song on the piano, “I marched to this at my wedding,” she says, wistful, “and it is always elegant.”

Her fingers run over the keys again, making music come out of the usually silent instrument. “There’s a crescendo a little way in,” she demonstrates with sound, “where it’s perfect for the bride’s entrance.”

“Okay.” What little bit she played sounded good, and it seemed like an easy enough choice, “It sounds beautiful. Will you play it for me?”

“Of course!” I don’t think I’ve ever known Judy to be contrary in anything.

“I know what song I want for the recessional,” I falter, figuring I can push the envelope, it’s my own wedding, “Alley Cat!”

“Like this?” The cheerful notes pound out into the space of the jewelry store, she is barely looking at the piano. “I can do that. You just sit back, don’t worry, I can take care of your music,” she assures me, her eyes crinkling with a smile, “I’ll take care of you…”

And she did. The music was honestly the easiest part of that hectic wedding. I’ve heard Canon in D a few times since, at other weddings, but it has never sounded as pretty as it in did in her capable hands.

Fast forward 11 years to times present

Judy is now family, as my sister has gone and married that boyfriend. Judy no longer plays piano at church, she no longer directs fresh young voices at the high school. She has a hard time doing most of the simple daily things that we take for granted.

Judy now has scleroderma. The word, unheard of to our family before this, literally means ‘hardening of the skin’. It is an autoimmune disease with no real cure, just treatment. She’s been struggling with this for over a year now, trying multiple treatments and therapies. Some thing help, most treatments are just a stop-gap. I don’t know what will happen to her. She still has that constant smile and quick laugh, but she cries a little easier now. She still doesn’t let anything get her down for long!

Judy can’t wear her wedding ring anymore. After thirty years of marriage, the ring finger is so used to feeling that band of metal there, it’s odd to take it off, to feel that naked spot. But her fingers, shiny and hard and tight, just can’t take a ring anymore. Judy can still fit into her wedding dress of thirty years ago, a feat many of us can’t manage, but the ring just won’t go on.

She had an idea a couple of months ago. Why not make use of the wedding ring in some way, something unique and special, just for her? Why not make a wedding necklace, to wear her diamonds close to her heart?

Why not, indeed? It’s what we’re (slightly) famous for here at Wexford Jewelers.

Judy set up an appointment to come in and look through a few pendant designs. She had three diamonds to use: a half carat and two quarter carat, all rounds. We showed her a contemporary look, a swirly look, a classical offset, and one or two others. Her eyes lit up at the swirls, which seemed right to me because the movement of the design reminds me of music.

Always easy to please, Judy chose a simplistic, soft swirling design that we stock a mold on.

“Just put them in there anyhow you can,” she smiles, “I’m sure it will be pretty.”

“Oh, it’ll be gorgeous,” I answer, remembering those fingers running over piano keys, “don’t worry, I’ll take care of you…”

And we did. I chose not to use a stock design, preferring to make something fresh, just for Judy. I formed swirls of wax that seemed to my mind like the movement of music through the air. It was good to be able to do something nice for her, to be the capable one this time

Jason cast it for his mom in 14k yellow gold and polished it up, Emily (Judy’s daughter-in-law!) set the diamonds and finished the piece, and we hung it from a sturdy wheat chain, made to last for years and years.

She loves the necklace. She’ll wear it until her hands are normal, until the winter cold doesn’t turn her skin blue. And she’ll keep smiling, because that’s what Judy does. And even though her hands don’t move as well as they used to, her music still sounds beautiful to my ear. It always will.

To learn more about scleroderma, or to donate to research and treatment, visit these sites:

http://www.scleroderma.org/

http://www.srfcure.org/srf/home.htm

To read Judy’s blog, and her ongoing fight with this, go here.