Over the past couple months, this letter and Victoria Gomelsky’s letter from the editor have celebrated the arrival of my son, Nolen Brown Smelzer Fisher.
The letters were written before our lives with Nolen took a scary turn in early January, when he began to have trouble breathing. For 12 days, my husband, Eric, and I lived at the hospital watching him struggle for breath, so much so that he was eventually intubated with a breathing tube. It was a nightmare.
On the third day of his hospitalization (the Saturday evening of the 24 Karat Club of the City of New York’s annual black-tie dinner, to be precise), we decided to respond to the many inquiries we were receiving about Nolen’s condition by reluctantly posting about it on Facebook. (Is a crisis an appropriate time to post? How can someone “like” a bad situation?) The response was overwhelming.
We received literally thousands of likes of support from our friends and family and, significantly, from hundreds of my friends and colleagues in the jewelry industry. Ever since my first industry event (the 2005 AGS Circle of Distinction dinner at the Rainbow Room), I’ve felt warmly received by the wonderful people in this business. I truly feel blessed by the many supportive friends I’ve made over the past decade.
The yogis in JCK’s New York office strike a pose of support for Nolen.
One of the highlights of the week occurred when Eric posted a picture of little Nolen, pre-hospital, doing a “warrior pose” and asked friends to imitate the look and post pictures of their own. Our spirits were especially lifted when the JCK team posted a group warrior pic from the office.
I’m not traditionally religious, but I am ecumenically spiritual, and I do feel the prayers, thoughts, and good vibrations sent our way were channeled through Eric and me directly into Nolen. I’m sure they played a role in the way he eventually bounced back to being a healthy little boy.
Many, many thanks to everyone for your support and friendship. I look forward to seeing you in Hong Kong and Basel in the month ahead!