Grieving Mother Heartbroken Again: The Statewide Search For A Lost Locket
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HURST (CBS11) - It's been months now since Hilda Ostby pulled away from her daughter's home in Hurst. They were heading to a wedding in El Paso that ended with her heart broken. The treasured locket she always wore had simply vanished.
"Oh, my goodness, it was just such a big shock," said Ostby, as her eyes instantly filled with tears. "It was a big loss. Like losing something again."
Or someone. You see, the silver heart and vial she wore were so much more than jewelry. They contained a scripture and a vial with her son Eli's ashes. He lost his battle with depression in December 2012.
"I couldn't even make a phone call until I could say it without sobbing." And even now the pain remains fresh. "I knew I couldn't do anything about it, other than try to find it."
The family called every restaurant, gas station and rest stop—even reaching out on social media. So far, their search has been shared on Facebook some 50,000 times.
"When we talk to people, you don't have to scratch too deep to find out that everybody's got wounds," said her husband and Eli's father, Steve. "So we just have to help each other."
Ostby says she received many messages from Texans, reminding her of the big hearts of the people here and wishing her well in her search. The Ostby's live in Iowa—but, she still has an affection for hearts. The one attached to the necklace was one of many she'd found—starting with the day Eli died.
"Out on our back porch, there was a perfect heart in the snow," recalled Hilda. Eli's twin brother had drawn it the day before and there it remained, frozen in the ice. "On the first anniversary of his death, I don't know why, but we went to a local lake. And there drawn in the ice was a heart," said Hilda. "Sometimes you think it must be a coincidence. But, I know it's not. So I choose to believe it's all there for me. Every heart I find."
Her grief, she admits, is also tinted with regret. The family didn't always understand her son's mental illness.
"Sometimes we rather blamed him for his behavior—why did he do that? Or act that way?" And then with painful honesty, "I think if I could go back, I would just love him every day."
Last month, a friend gave her another necklace: a semi-colon, which signals a pause, rather than an end. So, as she renews her search, she's choosing hope.
"My hope is that someone may have just seen it laying on the ground and just didn't know what to do with it or how to return it," said Hilda. "I know it's out of my hands… I just have to trust."
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