She had two very valuable Italian gold bracelets that her mother gave her. She has worn them all her life. Very heavy, very valuable. We always keep them at home when she goes to the hospital. But now that she is in the nursing home for good she wants them.. We are afraid they will get stolen, her mother wanted them passed on from generation to generation to the girls so they stay in the family. She is telling us she wants to feel close to her mother before she dies.. What should we do? The nurse told me today its not a good idea.
I was also thinking about a replica just to keep Sylvia's mom from nagging. When the fake ones disappear in the middle of the night Mom will freak out at first, but Sylvia can tell her the real ones are still at home. Mom will then be more inclined to leave them right where they are, and Sylvia won't have to come up with excuses.
Funny story to lighten the mood....
Granny gave me my inheritance while living. She was in her early 90s and assumed her days were limited. First a bunch of family pictures, dating back to 1908, these I had requested to decorate my first apartment with some of the cooler studio shots, some of my ancestors were pretty good looking Impressed with the fact I respected her pictures, she entrusted me with her prize possession. She had a Buddha which had been the last gift she received from grandfather, before he passed unexpectedly. I was not a fan of Asian art and this was more of a drugstore than gallery variety piece. With tears in her eyes she asked me to take it because she thought I showed the most respect for old things and she was afraid it would be abandoned.,,,,she wanted me to adopt the fat fella. I bit my tongue and made peace with the fact he crashed my decor and set him in a place of honor in my apartment. Five years later granny died.
Granny was not very friendly to most non family members, but she liked one cleaning lady who occasionally did some companionship caregiving. The lady called me a few days after granny's funeral, she had been cleaning my place and in desperation called out to granny for help while rubbing the Buddha belly, her financial hardship was resolved as she won a modest lottery of about $60,000.
Buddha is still in my place.
I am afraid that if you bring them with you to let your Mother see or hold, she will not want you to take them back home. You do not say if your Mom has a mental or physical issue but leaving them at the home is NOT A GOOD IDEA!!!!!
It doesn't matter what the type of facility either, stuff walks.
I'd take a picture of the granddaughters wearing the bracelets and make it into a big poster for her & placed in her room. Maybe have them holding a picture of their great-grandmother so the circle is complete.
True story - when my mom was in IL she continued to wear 2 sets of wedding rings hers & my dads and her parents 75th anniversary set. She wanted me to wear them once she died. One night visiting her, she was all about they had been stolen. Now I was there for lunch that day and she was wearing them. So maybe 5 hours later. She was insistent they were stolen along with other things (shoes & hair clips were regularly "stolen") and I should call the police. Well after lunch she always went and sat in her rocker in front of the TV in her room. And there they were on the floor next to the back legs of the rocker. They just fell off her fingers when she napped. When I showed them to her, she insisted that whomever had stolen them broke back into her apartment and put them there. Was not ever going to believe that they just fell off her skinny fingers either....Took them home that night as you knew it was going to happen again and probably not in her room.