Posted by Loulou on May 25, 2014 | 8 comments

Mama gave papa tomatoes once…they matter!

I was thinking. Mama and papa always run into a snag when a birthday comes around or holidays or anniversaries and they are always saying to one another, “I just don’t need anything at all. Just a little dinner together would be perfect—no presents, just YOU.”

And I also understand that there are certain things that mean a lot even if they have no value. Mama, for example, wears a bracelet she bought in the Metro in Paris years ago and she told me it cost about 2 euro (about $3) and it looks like jade but it’s all plastic strung together with elastic and she has worn that for years and years but if she thinks she has lost it or misplaced it, she goes bonkers.

For papa, it’s a little photo of mama and papa together in an unbreakable plastic frame that travels with him whenever he takes a trip and he sets it out in the hotel room and feels instantly at home. Mama has a little photo of papa in her wallet that she travels with everyday. He is holding a bunch of roses and that photo is more valuable than gold to her.

So, for me, gifts are hard to find and give when both of them have treasures that perhaps have little monetary value but mean so much and are just not replaceable.

I happen to know that they also cherish my little passport, which makes it easy for me to tag along on their jaunts without anyone questioning my right to be with them—it’s one of their favorite possessions (or I think it is…).

But I guess there is ONE thing that has some value that means more than anything to mama—her little sparkly wedding ring that she lost one time long ago in a spa and found just before the cleaning lady was about to suck it up in the vacuum cleaner! Mama was almost sick with worry and bingo! There it was under a chair and life continued.

I guess you could say that little things mean a lot around here, and I should know—I’m one of them!