There is a small wooden box on my desk that was given to me by a friend. It contains little pieces of life I’ve collected over the years. There’s are tickets, from BridgeClimb Sydney, High School Football Playoffs, a Metro Madrid ticket, and others. There are coins from England, Canada, Mexico, Spain, Kenya, and Australia. There’s a ukelele pick and a two-dollar bill, a Las Vegas $50 casino chip, and a fortune from the House Of Nan King in San Francisco that says, “You will bring sunshine into someone’s life this week.” It is a fortune I hope is true every week.

It contains a few pins; a kangaroo pin and a #1 Dad pin, and a pin that reminds me to be careful who I associate with. And there is a photo of a little girl from Ecuador who stole our hearts during her stay with us. We still chat via Facebook messenger with the help of Google Translate. I hope we get to meet face-to-face again one day. I tear up thinking about it.

It’s a small box, filled with big memories.

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