My mom is in the painting in my living room

A daughter keeps her mother close through a piece of art she genuinely loves — not hidden away, but part of her everyday home.

When my mom died, I didn't really know what I wanted to do with her ashes.

There were a lot of decisions being made at the time and I wasn't ready to make another permanent one. So for a while, I just kept them.

I knew I wanted to do something with them eventually. I just didn't know what.

I found out about embellished art much later.

There was one painting I kept going back to. I can't even say there was one specific reason why. It just felt like her. The colors, the softness of it, the way I felt when I looked at it.

And I could actually picture it in my home. That was important to me.

I didn't want something that I felt I had to find a special place for because it was a memorial. I wanted something I genuinely loved and would have wanted in my home anyway.

The difference was that this piece could also hold part of my mom.

Her ashes were incorporated into the paint when the artist embellished the piece by hand. I thought I might feel nervous sending them away, but the process was so thoughtful. I knew where she was, I understood what was happening, and I felt like she was being cared for with dignity the entire time.

That meant more to me than I expected it to.

When the painting came home, I hung it in my living room.

I see it all the time. Not because I'm going somewhere specifically to remember my mom. It's just there while I'm living my life.

Sometimes I'll be sitting on the couch and look over at it and think of her. Other times I probably walk past it ten times without thinking about it at all.

I actually like that. It feels natural.

People compliment the painting sometimes. If it feels right, I'll tell them about my mom. I'll tell them that her ashes are part of the painting and usually it opens up this whole conversation about her.

Other times, I just say, “Thank you.”

I love that I get to choose.

It doesn't have to announce itself as a memorial to everyone who walks into my home. It can just be a beautiful piece of art.

But I know what's there. I know that my mom is part of it.

And somehow having something beautiful that I love, that lives right in the middle of my everyday life, feels exactly right for me.