NANAIMO, B.C. — When she started driving that day, Celina Miller never expected to end up in the hospital. “There was the sound of the windows bursting,” Celina recalls before describing the noise the twisting metal sounded like a loud drum. “It was pure panic.” After being hit by another car, her vehicle was propelled into a pole. Celina’s husband, Jay Miller, was on the other end of the phone. “Her phone was still connected to the Bluetooth,” Jay says. “So, all I could hear was the screaming and crying.” Celina suffered life-altering physical injuries before being engulfed by a debilitating depression. “I genuinely felt that my family would be better off without me because I was a burden,” Celina says. Jay tried everything he could to help but nothing worked, until he decided to do something unexpected. “In my mind, it was like let’s try a Hail Mary,” Jay says. He bought Celina a bunch of art supplies and asked her to make something. Although Celina had never done anything like this before, she begrudgingly agreed. “It was actually the first thing I’ve enjoyed in months,” Celina says. Instead of being stuck in the past, painting focused Celina on the present. Then, after experimenting with glueing rhinestones on her paintings, she saw the potential for a positive future. “And now they’ve taken over my life,” Celina laughs. “In the best way possible.” Now — by painstakingly arranging them one by one into intricate designs — Celina covers all sorts of things with rhinestones. “I bling everything,” Celina says. Including her cane, her sunglasses, her shoes, and her water bottle, which features a bright mosaic depicting a trio of orcas swimming below a multicoloured sky. “It brings a little sparkle to even my side of the world,” Jay says. His wife has blinged his headphone case, screwdriver, utility knife and tape measure. “You can’t be dim when you bling everything, right?” Jay says. “We are so happy,” Celina says. “It’s changed my life completely.” Which is why she wondered about reimagining the symbol of so much pain. “You know what?” Celina recalls saying to her husband. “We should bling our car!” “OK!” Jay replied. “Let’s do that!” So they blinged the trailer hitch, the logo, and licence plate holder, before spending more than 50 hours covering vehicle’s hood. “They make people happy. They’re sparkly,” Celina says, adding that people regularly come up to compliment the car. “And I’m like, ‘I did that. And people are like, ‘Whaaat!?!’” While it will take a while to achieve her and Jay’s goal of covering the whole car with rhinestones, Celina is hoping it’s already inspiring others —who may be stuck in the dark — to never give up on finding their own source of light. “It’s just magical!” Celina says.
