about my aunt

Hello! We hope you enjoyed your weekend and that your Monday is off to a great start! 

This past weekend we headed to Chicago and got to hangout with my 92 year old grandma. She’s the coolest and we laughed a lot about a book she ordered called “The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia”! We also celebrated one of my aunt’s birthdays, went on a bike ride and had lots of great quality time with my parents. 

Speaking of books, I also started to read one of our favorite authors; Kris Carr’s newest book called “I’m Not a Mourning Person” (comes out September 19th - you gotta get it!) It’s about grief and loss, and it took me a bit to pick it up because it’s such a heavy topic, but once I did I couldn’t put it down! That combined with the weekend in Chicago got me thinking about my other aunt who passed away in 2012 (picture of myself and my sister with her below).

I would love to share a bit about her and how she was one of the many inspirations for our business.

Artery Ink started in 2014, so she passed away two years prior. She died from breast cancer and it was a long terrible battle near the end.

I remember very vividly waiting in the hospital room in hospice asking the nurse how much time we had left. At this time she was not speaking, not awake, and would have seizures multiple times a day. 

The nurse said "there is no way to know for sure, but she has a very strong heart, it's not going to just stop suddenly".

I left the hospital that day vividly imagining her heart beating away in her lifeless body. I don't remember how many days later she died, but her heart remained in my mind. 

Slowly our idea for Artery Ink came to life in the following year and officially became a business in 2014. I always think of the heart in our logo as hers. It makes me happy to know she's always with us.

The experience of watching her leave provided so many lessons, but some that I think about often are:

1) Take a lot more pictures with the people you love. I still forget this sometimes, but I definitely do it more than I used to.

2) It's sometimes hard to see the parts of others inside of you, but after my aunt died I truly realized that so much of who I am is because of the things she taught me. It's nice to feel them with you.

3) Tell people that you love them and make time to see the people you care about. It's more important than work.

4) Don't wait to use your nice things, enjoy them as much as possible.

It’s so crazy how life works, especially how some sad endings can inspire new and happy beginnings. Grief never goes away, but you can learn to live with it. Plus, you can honor the person who is gone by living your fullest life and enjoying every minute as best as you can! 

-Mara