A few weeks back, I received a text from my sister that a friend of hers was in the market for diamond necklaces for his nieces…She referred him to us, and he reached out a few days later with more information. Julius explained that his twin nieces had graduated from high school earlier this year and he wanted to give them a special gift to celebrate their achievement. He sent over a few pictures of ideas he had in mind and I had to smile when I opened them. He had clearly been doing his research with some assistance from a friend who knew his niece’s age group well. One had a three-tiered diamond pendant necklace with a comment that read “similar to the necklace my uncle gave me when I graduated from college,” which made my heart swell just a tiny bit.Honestly, when I graduated from high school and college I received a bill for my education expenses and a comment along the lines of “nice work, now go get a real job.” My family is wonderful but not exactly milestone celebrators. So, I loved how meaningful these achievements clearly were to Julius and his family and I especially appreciated his role as an uncle in showing support for his niece’s academic success.Julius gave me an idea of his budget and guidance on which item he liked the most from the list his friend had put together. Julius especially liked clean, minimal designs that would allow the diamonds to show. I suggested we set up an appointment to go through some options and, possibly, select some diamonds for his designs. Considering that his nieces are twins, he was sensitive to giving them something that would coordinate with each other but not match. They’re individuals, after all!We made an appointment for the following week and assembled some diamonds that fell within his budget and design specifications. Julius selected two nearly-matching round diamonds and opted for a simple 14k yellow gold bezel slider for the setting. To differentiate the necklaces, he decided to add milgrain detailing to one and keep the other unadorned. The resulting necklaces are perfect for everyday wear and completely beautiful in their simplicity. More than that, though, I knew Julius’ nieces would deeply appreciate the thought he put into them. When I asked Julius why he specifically wanted diamonds, he explained that he has served as his niece’s father figure since they were babies, everything from checking that their homework was completed to showing up at special events to providing a disciplinary figure when their mother needed to pull out the big guns. Because he feels like a father to the twins, he explained that he wanted to buy them their first diamonds and decided that their high school graduation was the perfect milestone to celebrate with them. Even better, the timing of the necklaces’ completion hit right at their 18th birthday! Does it get any more thoughtful than that?How sweet to be able to wear a reminder of your uncle’s support everyday as you enter a new chapter of adulthood. This was such a fun project to work on and we are so thrilled that he loved how they turned out.Do you have a milestone you want to celebrate with us? Send me your ideas!