For generations, sentimental objects brought my family together when quality time couldn't. When my Grandmother moved to Belgium in 1990, she bought herself a beautiful jewelry box. When she heard that her first grandchild was on the way, she bought another jewelry box to give my sister, Caroline, at her baptism. 

In 2003, after she moved to France, she discovered that my mother was expecting twins. Determined to keep the tradition alive, she traveled back to Belgium to buy two more jewelry boxes. Finally, when my mother became pregnant with me, my grandmother traveled back to Belgium. But this time, she was devastated to see that they no longer made the boxes. 

Growing up, my siblings always had their jewelry boxes on display with jewelry inside that they were gifted as babies. Every year, my grandmother apologized that she wasn't able to give me a jewelry box, too. At sixteen during Christmas, I opened the long awaited gift from my Grandmother, arriving all the way from Denmark. As I unwrapped the present, I saw the same jewelry box that I had admired all those years at my Grandmother's house. She had emptied her very own box, the first one she ever bought, and had given in to me. 

Through it, I learned that the distance that separates my family only makes our love grow stronger. The jewelry boxes traveling from Belgium, France, Denmark, and Boston, symbolizes our family's dynamic, reassuring us that no distance can ever break our love. 

– S

Relationship:  Child of im/migrant Child of im/migrant