A Pennsylvania mom found a perfect way to make lemonade from some pretty sour lemons.
Karen Beardsley and her ex-husband divorced more than a decade ago but their relationship gave them a daughter, Devin Petit, who is now a college student. In February, a couple weeks before her 21st birthday, Beardsley surprised Petit with an early gift — and it was certainly one her daughter didn’t see coming.
The gift was an elegant necklace adorned with three diamonds. There’s nothing too out of the ordinary there, but the story behind the diamonds made this a present Petit will likely never forget:
my mom gave me this necklace this morning as an early birthday gift. it’s made from the diamonds of her wedding band. she said although her marriage to my dad didn’t work out, they both agreed I was the best thing to come from it, which is why she wanted me to have it. 💗 pic.twitter.com/6Rz6yCUw2M
— Devin Petit (@devin_petit) February 12, 2018
The diamonds came from the wedding band Beardsley wore during her marriage to Petit’s father. Erie-based Breakiron Jewelers crafted the custom piece and clearly the gift meant a lot to the young woman.
“[My mom] said although her marriage to my dad didn’t work out, they both agreed I was the best thing to come from it,” Petit wrote in a Twitter post that showed the necklace.
Beardsley later told BuzzFeed she thought the gift represented “successful co-parenting over the years and the love that both her dad and I have for her.”
Petit showed some serious love for her parents on Twitter after posting about the necklace, tweeting that her mom is “genuinely the sweetest” and that she’s “so thankful to have parents like them.”
she’s genuinely the sweetest, and I’m so thankful to have parents like them. 😌 #softtweets
— Devin Petit (@devin_petit) February 12, 2018
Petit’s picture of the gift quickly went viral and has been liked more than 273,000 times since February 11.
Beardsley’s thoughtful gift has clearly touched many people online, especially other children of divorced parents. Some people replied with photos of their own keepsakes that have been made from their parents’ wedding rings:
https://twitter.com/notman23/status/963595028764479489
Others had necklaces that included the whole rings:
https://twitter.com/Maplense/status/964227888194076672
One guy said that while he didn’t have jewelry, his mom gave him an even better gift after his parents’ divorce:
https://twitter.com/BiscegliaAndrew/status/963274386009706497
As a child of divorce myself, I can say this gift definitely made me smile. I keep my parents’ wedding rings and photos in a keepsake box. Do you have any creative gifts made from the jewelry of loved ones?