My sister started chemo in June. The only thing I could think to give her was a bird that doesn't live in this country.
Six things a small hummingbird necklace did for my sister and me, and why I ended up wearing the earrings.
Robyn is two years older than me and has been bossing me about since I could walk. In May she rang from her kitchen and said the word none of us like, and by July I was driving down to Geelong every second Thursday to sit beside her in a vinyl chair for four hours at a time.
Everybody wanted to give her something. Flowers were not allowed on the ward. The books sat unread because she could not concentrate. Somebody gave her a candle with Be Brave written on the side, and I watched her face when she opened it.
I wanted to give her something that said what I could not say out loud, which is that I think she is the toughest person I know, without it reading like a sympathy card. And the only thing I kept coming back to was a hummingbird.
There are no hummingbirds in Australia. I did not know that until 2011, when the two of us went over to see our cousin in Vancouver and one hung in the air at her feeder about a foot from Robyn's face. My big sister, who has never once been lost for words, just stood there with her mouth open. She has talked about it ever since. So when this necklace came up on my phone one night, I did not think about it very hard. Six things about what it turned out to be worth.
Thirty-nine dollars, which turned out to be exactly the right amount
This matters more than you would think, so I will start there. When somebody is sick, an expensive present feels like you are saying goodbye. Something cheap and jokey feels like you have not understood. I did not want either. At $39.95, with a matching pair of earrings included, it sits in the one spot that says I have been thinking about you, without turning it into a big thing she has to be grateful for. Delivery was free, it came in a little gift box, and Cute Home give you thirty days to send it back, so the only risk was whether she would like it.
You found me a hummingbird. In Geelong.
It is a bird that crosses 800 kilometres of open sea, and weighs about as much as a five-cent coin
I looked it up afterwards, because I wanted to know I had picked the right thing. Every autumn, a great many ruby-throated hummingbirds cross the Gulf of Mexico in one go. Around 800 kilometres of open water with nowhere to land, on a body that weighs about the same as a five-cent coin. They are also the only birds in the world that can properly fly backwards. I wrote both of those on a bit of card and tucked it into the box. I did not need to write anything else. Robyn read it, put the necklace on, and said "right then," which is what she says when she has decided something.
Eight hundred kilometres on a five-cent coin. Well. I can do four hours in a chair.
It is the brightest thing in a very beige room
The treatment unit is kind, and it is beige. Beige chairs, beige blinds, pale blue gowns, and everybody's visitors in grey and navy because nobody knows what you are meant to wear to that sort of place. The pendant is done like a little stained-glass window: orange and gold wings, a turquoise head, that ruby throat, and a fan of red and blue tail feathers. You can see it from the other side of the room. Robyn wore it over a navy jumper most Thursdays, and it was the first thing your eye went to, which I think was rather the point.
I am not wearing beige to my own chemo, Nancy.
It weighs next to nothing, which turned out to matter
By the second month her skin had gone touchy, and she could not stand anything heavy or scratchy sitting against her. The pendant is acrylic rather than glass, which I will admit I was unsure about until I held it. It is light enough that she forgets she has it on, the edges are smooth all the way round, and it does not clank on anything when she leans back in the chair. Cute Home say it is hypoallergenic and nickel and lead free, which was the very first thing I checked before I ordered.
I keep forgetting it's there, and then I look down and there's the bird.
The earrings came with it, so I kept them for myself
This was not the plan. The set came with a matching pair of hummingbird earrings, and I was going to put them away for her birthday. Then on the first Thursday she saw them in the box and told me to wear them. So I did. They hang from little hooks, so they are for pierced ears, and they are as light as the pendant. Now there are hummingbirds on both of us every second Thursday, one on her and a pair on me, and we match for the first time since Mum put us both in lemon for Easter in 1969.
Look at us. We're a flock.
A nurse lifted it in her fingers and asked where she got it
This is the one I did not see coming. About the third visit, one of the nurses stopped while she was checking the drip, lifted the pendant and asked Robyn about it. And for five minutes my sister told her about Vancouver, and the feeder, and our cousin's dreadful coffee, and not once about her bloods. The nurse went and fetched another nurse to have a look. That is not what a necklace is for, and I know it. But when somebody's whole week has become about being unwell, five minutes of being asked about something else is worth a great deal more than thirty-nine dollars.
Five minutes about a bird. First time in weeks nobody asked me how I was.
What I thought I was giving her, against what it has been
I ordered it on my phone at eleven at night, half expecting it to end up in a drawer.
One more thing before the price
It is acrylic, not glass and not enamel, and I would rather tell you that now than have you surprised when it arrives. What that means day to day is that it is light, the colours are bright right through, and it is not a precious thing you have to worry about. Cute Home suggest keeping it away from perfume, lotions and harsh chemicals, taking it off for the shower or a swim, and giving it a wipe with a soft cloth now and then. Robyn keeps hers in the box it came in, on the bedside table, and it goes on first thing every Thursday.
About the price
It is $39.95, and that includes the earrings. I have gone on about that number already and I will do it once more, because I think it is why it worked. It is small enough that she did not feel she owed me anything for it, and nice enough that it did not look like something I had grabbed at the servo on the way in. You can Afterpay it, delivery is free anywhere in Australia, and Cute Home send it out within a day or two with tracking.
Robyn has her last round in October. She says she will keep wearing it after. I believe her. She has never taken advice from anybody in her life, including about when to take off a necklace.
If there is somebody in your life doing something hard this year, a treatment, a divorce, a first Christmas without someone, this is a very small way of telling them you think they can make it across. It arrives boxed, it goes with anything, and it says the thing for you, so you do not have to.
— Nancy
Hummingbird Necklace & Earrings Set
- Hummingbird pendant in a bright, stained-glass style design
- Matching hook earrings included with the necklace
- Lightweight acrylic with smooth edges, easy to wear all day
- Hypoallergenic, nickel and lead free
- Arrives in a gift box, ready to give or to keep
- Free Australia-wide delivery · 30-day money back · Afterpay available
About this story. Nancy and Robyn's story is a dramatisation, written to show the kind of reason people choose this piece. Names and details are illustrative. Product details are as described by Cute Home. The pendant is acrylic, and the earrings are hook style for pierced ears.
This page is an advertisement for Cute Home. Cute Home · An Australian start-up from Melbourne · Free Australia-wide delivery · 30-day money back guarantee.