Memento

This is my memento.  I constructed a ring box from a single piece of wood using only three materials: zebra wood, 16 gauge wire, and beeswax for varnish.  The inspiration behind this piece stems from my engagement to a boy when I was just eighteen years old.  I met my first love ever in high school when I was sixteen.  I had never before felt what it was like to be in love with someone or in love with the feeling he gave me.  It happened so naturally that I didn't even realize I had fallen in love with him in only a month.  Through our relationship we experienced so much of life together.  

At sixteen and seventeen there is so much to happen in life ahead of you, and we shared it all. We sat at each other's graduations, we went to prom together, I was there when he lost his first family member, and he was there when I left my family for the first time going to college.  On my nineteenth birthday, he proposed over FaceTime, because thats all the connection we had from Florida to California.  After everything we had been through, we wanted to spend the rest of forever with each other, because it felt so naturally right.  After everything we had been through, however, time took its toll like it does on most things.

Three years was not enough to save our natural connection.  Stretching ourselves across the country for each of us to chase our dreams ultimately took us away from each other.  The saddest experience I have faced was taking off the engagement ring and hiding it away from myself.  How do you handle hiding this? I boxed it all away, and after a while, it just faded.  There is a deep pain in hearing the love of your life tell you that they just can't love you anymore.  There is an even worse pain when you say it back to them.  You know that it's over, but it will never end.

This is why I chose to create my piece.  Our love and connection was so natural which is why I chose to use wood.  I was inspired by sequoia trees because of how much they have grown, even though forces of nature can be against them.  Even though they take beatings, they still stand strong.  My relationship took a savage beating, and even though we are no longer together, I know that I will never love the way I loved him.  I will always want what he and I had, but I know we both deserve better than what could have given each other.  "Oceans" by Seafret inspired a big part of this project because of the message it sends.  Drowning in the ocean is a better feeling that hurting your loved one.  Oceans separate between people, even though we were separated by states, it felt nearly impossible to cross.  

I hid something inside the box that no one will ever see.  There is a mystery to the box, because I have no idea what will become of the future between me and him.  Even if the odds are slim to none that we will ever even see each other again, I can hold that secret within me.  I can hold what we had in the palm of my hand without ever had to explain a word to anyone.

Materials Used:

- Zebra Wood

- 16 gauge Wire

- Beeswax