COEUR d’ALENE — For many, Mother’s Day is not just a day of celebration, but a day of remembrance. 

Rebecca Merrigan of Coeur d'Alene lost her mother to Alzheimer’s disease after a long and heartbreaking decline but found a way to preserve and deepen her connection with her mother even after her death.

After receiving her mother’s ashes, Merrigan had Parting Stone make around 20 small, smooth stones out of them. She takes at least one with her everywhere she goes. 

“I have one in a little pouch that is in my backpack, it is a comfort knowing it’s there,” Merrigan said.

Her mother lived in Oregon but moved to North Idaho so that Merrigan could care for her. After her mother passed, Merrigan was able to provide catharsis for not only herself, but also for her family. She sent stones to her brother, sister and aunt

“It was nice sending them out so that each group could do their thing to honor her,” she said.

Merrigan’s mother was an avid outdoorswoman and loved to hike, explore and connect with nature. Merrigan has been able to continue that connection by leaving stones in places that she thinks her mother would have appreciated. 

“If I find a cool spot that I connect with, I will leave her behind somewhere so that a little piece of her is there,” she said. 

Her favorite spot is at a remote place on the south fork of the Salmon River. 

“It is totally a spot she would have loved,” she said. 

She is also happy that she gets to take her mother to places she had never been. Recently, she left a stone near Tucson, Ariz. 

“I don’t know if she spent a lot of time in the desert, but it is just so pretty out there. She would have liked it,” she said. 

The stones have been placed in unique places, from mountain tops to rivers.

Merrigan and her family have been able to honor their mother in a special way and are happy to have closure but are even more glad that their mother can have a place in their lives and the world. 

“It gave a little bit of closure and then knowing that she is not going to be put on a shelf and not thought about," Merrigan said. "Anytime I am missing her or wishing she was there and could talk to her I can grab one of those stones and say whatever I was wanting to say to her if she was there."