This past Mother’s Day was 19 year old Chelsea Lonon’s second without her mom.
“My mom and I were really close,” she explained. “She was like my best friend, I told her everything.”
Sherri Lonon was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer during her daughter’s senior year of high school. Within two months, she was gone.
“It still doesn’t feel real,” Chelsea said. “I have a hard time understanding that she’s not here, that I can’t just call her or walk five feet to her bedroom to talk to her.”
For Chelsea, her mom was a true gem of woman full of light and life. So, when she stumbled upon an Instagram contest honoring moms by offering a free diamond made from cremated remains, she figured why not give it a shot.
“I was like, the worst thing that happens is that I won’t win,” she said.
Except she did.
“We want people to remembr the good times and talk about the good memories,” explained Adelle Archer, co-founder of Eterneva, the company holding the #RememberingMom contest. “Chelsea absolutely epitomized that.”
Eterneva is a start-up that creates diamonds by extracting carbon from ashes. On Mother’s Day, Eterneva chose Chelsea out of hundreds of entries nationwide to receive a free memorial diamond of her mom.
“It’s a pretty remarkable process,” Archer said.
But Chelsea decided to take her tribute a step further. Her memorial diamond will include the ashes of her father as well, who passed away five months after her mom.
Everyone knows that diamonds are forever. Now, Chelsea Lonon’s parents will forever be together…and with her.
