The nostalgia of the past has left me with memories that inhabit many gifts and trinkets. These things have been kept in various places, be it a drawer, box, or shelf. They spread through my home like the aroma of an old candle that brings back memories that you can’t quite name. But memories are just so. Pleasant, but they stay in the past. The most precious remind me of the values, love, and of the person closest to it. The youngest of two youngest's, I’m very close with my parents, especially my mom. Her love for us is immaterial, but the evidence of it often is. When I was small my mom picked me up from somewhere and had a gift for me. It was a gold box; inside was a bit of fluff with a few plastic snakes and lizards on top. Being a lover of little boxes, fluffy things, cute trinkets, and reptiles, I was justly ecstatic. Later I found a small ornate wooden box that was my mom’s and thought, ”this would be perfect for my little guys,” so I asked to have it and my cute little reptiles had a beautiful new home. I only recently learned the gift was from a Dollar Store, and the box was from a friend who studied abroad in Russia. The box has much more tangible value, but the contents are much more special. They represent my mom’s commitment to love with creativity: making holidays special, becoming a student of her kids to know everything she could, finding things on her way and thinking, “Derek would love this,” and gifting us a love for giving and creating. 

– D

Relationship:  Grandchild of im/migrant Grandchild of im/migrant