After my husband passed away I'm not sure what to do anymore with our jewelry shop.

By Maya  ·  Maya & Henry's  ·  September 2026

Maya here.

I'm writing this letter not because I want attention.

I'm writing this because I want people to stop asking me.

 

Let me explain first what happened for the people who don't know

Me and my husband Henry have been handcrafting gold jewelry for the last 33 years.

We always followed the old fashioned way.

The way where your pieces didn't tarnish or leave you with green skin.

We always made our jewelry with real gold.

It will never lose its shine or turn your skin green.

Jewelry that can last a lifetime

how it should be

or at least that is the principle we have been living by.

Crafting jewelry was our passion.

Henry made the pieces in his own workshop.

Sometimes I couldn't get him out of there.

The dinners we spent there because Henry still wanted to finish his piece are countless.

A jewelry piece was never another sale for us.

We became part of people's stories, memories, weddings and anniversaries.

The most beautiful moments of people's lives.

We were part of it.

That is what our passion was about.

Making people happy and giving everyone the best memories they deserve.

 

Now I will tell you what happened to Henry.

Henry was a strong man.

He never wanted to go to the doctor or ask for help.

He was very stubborn.

But that is what all old men are

I told myself.

I still remember those words.

Those words stopped me from jumping in where I should have jumped in.

It is my biggest regret.

As a wife you always have a gut feeling when there is something wrong.

You just feel it.

You cannot describe how you know it, but you feel it.

That was the gut feeling I had when I woke up on a random Thursday morning.

I asked Henry how he was doing.

He was mumbling fine as usual when I asked him this question.

He always told me I didn't have to worry that much.

But I felt it.

I let it go.

He took his bicycle that morning like he always did.

I would come to the shop later because of my appointment.

2 hours later.

I sat at the dentist.

My phone was ringing.

Unknown number.

Usually I don't pick them up.

I had the gut feeling in me still.

I asked myself a thousand questions in just the couple of times my phone rang.

That's the moment I asked the dentist to stop.

I picked my phone up.

It was Henry.

He was calling from the hospital.

Henry fainted in the store.

One of our customers called the ambulance and they picked him up.

He asked me to come.

I left the dentist immediately and went to the hospital as fast as I could.

You know that moment.

Yes, exactly what you are imagining right now.

That moment that you are too late.

Too late to see him, to talk to him, or to say goodbye to him.

He passed away and I couldn't stop thinking about the gut feeling I had that morning, and I was asking myself the following questions:

  • Why didn't I send him to the doctor?
  • Why did I let him go to the store alone on his bike?
  • What if he had been in the hospital in time?

It didn't matter anymore.

It was over. Every single day I still miss him and regret what happened.

And there you are.

No husband.

No friends, because usually we didn't go out after the long workdays.

As a 67 year old woman it wasn't easy to lose your husband on a random Thursday morning.

It wasn't easy to be alone in the jewelry store you built with your husband.

I didn't know what to do anymore.

Henry crafted the jewelry.

I was behind the counter.

I asked myself the question:

How can I sell jewelry if I don't even know how to make it?

 

That made me realize I cannot continue this.

I have to close our workshop.

I never wanted to close.

Henry wouldn't let me close the shop.

But he is not here.

And here I am alone.

With a few boxes of jewelry that we made in the last 33 years.

Those are the last pieces we will ever sell.

I'm giving 80% off all the pieces.

Not because that's the value of the pieces.

It's because I want to end this horror movie I got into.

It has been enough for me.

I want rest.

After the pieces are gone they are gone forever.

So if you want real gold jewelry priced lower than costume jewelry

Check the link for what's left.

SEE WHAT'S LEFT

— Maya