Sometimes you just wonder how you are going to make it in a day. Worry grabs hold of you like a cramp in the stomach and squeezes the energy, the hope and the happiness out of your life. On one such day, when worry was squeezing me so hard I could not see the daylight a very magical thing happened at Koorey Creations……

     We were a relatively new company, in a very strong developemental point of our business, where you wonder if you have made a mistake or overextended yourself to grow. The bills are coming due on all your risks and not much is happening on the retail floor. Of course in every household, neccessary expenses appear out of nowhere and sometimes you just can’t see the light of day.

     I remember at that time questioning not only the wisdom of my business choices, but it had somehow snoballed into a questioning of ALL my choices in life. I was spiraling out of control emotionally and didn’t like it. So I just took a deep breath and did one of my most favorite things. I told God it was HIS job to be the miracle maker, so, please, just perform a miracle to let us know we were on the right track.

   Minutes later, a couple entered our store and proceeded to make a very significant purchase, which in an of itself was definitely a miracle message, but then something more magical happened. This couple, left, happy purchases in hand, and one hour later returned, with the most beautiful cake we had ever seen. Complete with plates, napkins, folks and ambition to serve it to our staff!

   This young chef was an executive pastry chef at the Chicago Cordon Bleu! And just wanted to treat us, as special, as he had felt he had been treated. I did cry, and with a thankful heart ate every lucsious piece to the last crumb!

That happened 15 years ago. And we are still in business to this day!

This is a Tribute to The CAKE BOSS at Koorey Creations. And the MIRACLE MAKER in heaven!!!

Deborah

Over the years there have been some amazing stories coming my way about precious jewelry articles lost, for sometimes decades, and found serendipitously later.

Some of my favorite stories are as follows:

Harvard Ring:

A customer was visiting to purchase a new wedding set in Saugatuck. He said that in his travels for HIS wedding he would also be attending his son’s wedding at Harvard. In this context, he  received a call from someone who was diving, I believe in the ocean, and was searching along the East Shoreline with a metal detector. He found a ring, a Harvard graduation ring with his name and inscription inside. He notified Harvard, and as he was a graduate, the ring was returned to him. Yes he had been diving and lost it almost 30 years previous. Even more amazing, there was still a touch of yellow paint on the ring from the previous day before he lost it when he was painting  his son’s room yellow! In my opinion, the ring wanted to show up for the weddings!!!

(Now, Mr. Harvard, if you read this, please feel free to correct any misinformation, as I am recreating this from memory!) (And, would love to see you embellish more for us!)

Opal Ring

With the advent of laser technology, new repairs are open to us at a great cost savings to customers and safety to the opals  that did not previously exist. So, as I was explaining this to a customer, she said she had a ring that needed repair. It had an interesting history….

At fifteen years old, (she was now in her 70″s) her grandmother had given her an opal ring to wear only on special occasions. She said she took it out of the box to wear it, (not for any special occasion) and was questioned by her grandmother. She lied and said no, she wasn’t wearing it, (it was hidden in her pocket). She felt bad for lying but did not want Grandma to take the ring away.

One year later her grandmother died, and she wore the ring, still hearing the echoing words of caution, but wanting nonetheless to feel close to her lost grandmother. Somehow, she lost the ring! What horror, what pain!! Thirty years later, she said, she was gardening. Lo and behold, the ring was found. (Another 30 year story) It just reappeared! I guess Grandma felt she was responsible enough to wear it now.

Legos

Ever lose a large diamond? Wonder what happened to it? Give up trying to find it.

Then, one day you are playing with your Grandson with Legos? You reach over to add, what you think is a HEADLIGHT to your finely crafted Lego car?

That’s one dynamite set of  LEGO WHEELS!

Gone to the Fishes

Here’s another one. People actually relive these moments in my store!

When this lovely lady told me her story, I could still see the fear and pain in her eyes over losing a precious diamond earring.

She lost her diamond earring, an heirloom with greatly treasured item.

They weren’t huge or terribly valuable, just very important to her.

She woke up one morning to find one missing. She searched and searched, frantically. For two years she looked, sick at heart.

Then one day she was cleaning the fish tank. She was sucking up the fish gunk, and something caught at the end of the nozzle.

I think the fish were trading it in for the hope of a larger diamond!

Hope you enjoy some of my lost and found stories. Love to hear some of yours!!!

In Saugatuck anything can happen…

Over the years folks have said that I could sell snow to an Eskimo! I would always chuckle as I truly believe that people buy what they want, when they want, and I just happen to do my job well enough that I make it easier for them. In this case, however, even I am starting to become a believer!

For almost 20 years we have been selling our craft in Saugatuck. I realized, that over this period of time, for some of our customers, shopping with us has become a part of their summer vacation tradition. Why? I think mostly because we do provide a unique product, but also because we have fun with these seasonal customers as they shop. On the weekend of July 4th just such a visit took place. Here is how it happened…

A long time customer, and lovely lady, was making her annual vacation visit with her friend to see our new creations. She made her selections and was just hanging out a bit. By surprise she came across an additional piece that captured her interest. Since she was looking at a unique item that would be hard to replace in the future, I suggested a layaway plan since she had already made her main purchase. I told her I would even hold the item for a week so she could contemplate the possibility. I agreed to hide the item in a back file while she made her decision.

Somehow, another staff member inadvertently showed the piece of jewelry to another customer and received an offer on it – amazingly for more money. Caught in an uncomfortable situation, I immediately contacted my customer and told her about the offer, explaining I would not sell the item if she had decided it should be hers. I would easily “let her off the hook” if it really wasn’t a serious consideration. She said, before she could answer me, she would like to come in to view the jewelry one more time. When she did, I saw the longing in her eyes, quite aware that the piece fit nicely with the other pieces she already owned. To be frank, I knew she wanted it!

The usual objections arose: “I can’t spend the money, my husband will kill me. You can make another one like it later, can’t you?” And finally, the coup de grass of all objections: “If it is meant to be…” I saw her painful resignation as she sadly returned it to it’s stand. Because I was connecting to this sadness, it seemed something more important than just a purchase was at stake, I felt the desire to help her fight harder, so, unexpectedly, and for the first time in my 20 years of finding homes for our lovely pieces, using a superlative, (which I won’t share) I blurted out an exhortation to encourage her to purchase this ring!

 When the shock subsided, (for both of us) we all burst into laughter. Still laughing, she threw her credit card down next to her sparkling desire.  “Viva La Layaway!!” She shouted, still giggling  that I could say such a thing. I apologized profusely, but she would have none of it because she said it was just what she needed!

What happened the next day I could not have been anticipated and still makes me chuckle.Two unusual figures entered my store. I could see them on our monitor, but my daughter made it to the sales floor first. I heard one of them say, in a low southern drawl, “We want to see Deborah. Thank you very much.”

I wasn’t quite prepared for the encounter that awaited me, although the odd look on my daughter’s face (God Bless her, she didn’t break), as she invited me to join our customers, should have been a clue. There, in sparkling Fourth of July attire were not one, but TWO, Elvis impersonators posing in classic Elvis posture! Once the screams of surprise subsided from me, one of them drawled, “We want to know about this new sales technique you are using on our wives!”

As more laughter erupted his wife and her friend, (the one that purchased jewelry the day before) appeared. They were reveling into the swift and shocking touché only two Fourth of July Elvis’s can bring to a miscreant sales woman. When the light finally dawned I hugged both Elvis impersonators, and their wives promising I had learned my lesson.

“I can’t get enough of your love!”

Deborah

When you are working in a profession that you care deeply about, you don’t always expect that an event in your workday will significantly change your outlook on life. In jewelry making I use my hands. In retail I translate the work of my hands and other jewelry artist’s work to the consumer. When that work lovingly caresses the hands of someone else, and it is received with great appreciation and joy, I am always deeply gratified I have chosen my craft.

It was a normal business day of showing my wares — an enchanting summer day. The couple who chose to enter my store were looking for something special. They were looking for something with opal for his hands. We specialize in Australian Boulder Opal. Most people don’t know much about it. He did. And, he saw something he wanted.

Later, for a special surprise, to mark a special moment in this couple’s journey together, his partner purchased the item he had chosen.

Subsequently, a few months later, they returned to the store, he wearing this beautiful ring, his gift. We took the ring outside to enjoy its phenomenal beauty in the sun. “Please don’t take offense, but your partner has beautiful hands,” I said to his wife. She smiled a smile with a hidden something.

“You don’t know what these hands have been through,” he said, discreetly showed me the fine scars circling his entire wrists. “An accident, in a helicopter, years ago, I lost them.”
I looked in his eyes with wonder. I held those hands with utter respect and awe. That ring nestled serenely in an extraordinary place, in an extraordinary moment, suited just to his hands.

I felt humbled and very grateful for the reminder that we are all so much more than our purchases.

(Poscript: That ring went to Iraq with him and served faithfully with its wearer.He returned safely to the U.S. and said, he never took it off.)

Deborah Koorey

A couple visited our store and were chatting with one of the staff members. I entered the sale’s floor and said hello, commenting that this couple looked familiar. They said that they were from St. Joseph, Michigan,  but had discovered us in our Arizona store and had made a purchase there, an item the woman was wearing.

I thanked them, and as I usually do, said that they certainly did not have to drive 2000 miles to Arizona when we were only twenty minutes away in Michigan!

The wife responded that she was just happy that they could visit us again anywhere seeing that in December she almost lost her husband. She looked at him knowingly and he nodded back vigorously in agreement.

Always curious, I asked why. She said that in December her husband had a heart attack and she called 911 and they gave her directions on how to administer CPR. (Later they told her that it is a rare case when this type of life saving technique works successfully under such duress.)

I was overcome. My response was to simply hug the two of them and thank them for remembering us at all! Tears flowed a bit, on both sides, and he, without words, just looked at her with abject love and gratitude.

One more big group hug!

“You two are very fortunate and very special!” I said. “But I have just one question :* As you were rescuing this lovely man, beating on his chest, you didn’t happen to shout, COME BACK, I NEED MORE KOOREY JEWELRY!?”

They both laughed and she playfully admitted it must have been her secret desire!

Note: When all was said and done she did exit the store with a new Koorey addition for her wardrobe, so I told her to keep him alive for a long time to come!

*Disclaimer: Koorey Creations nor its subsidaries is responsible for any husband beatings that may result from this article.