Big Things Come in Small Packages

Many people have a close family member that they have a relationship with that contains a symbolic meaning. Even an idol or role model of some sort may take this role where every action holds more meaning than that person intends. Memory is sweet and it holds more meaning in our minds than anything else and keeps us motivated. While one person may be given a jacket or sweatshirt, this jacket holds similar meaning to a small marble bird sculpture that my grandmother gave me as a child. One day when her and my grandfather were still able to live alone, I was helping my grandmother clean the house with a couple of my other cousins when I fell in love with the tiny statue. My grandmother repeatedly told me that I could have it when I got older, as she aged too and wouldn’t have the need for it anymore. The slender memory that I hold of it now as I visit my grandmother in her new house run by caregivers, with the tiny marble bird sitting lifeless on a table. As she soon forgot about this promise with her age, it was the memory of that day that I wanted to stay with me, not the marble bird.