The tiny music box has no monetary value. It probably cost a couple of dollars when it was new. It’s just a novelty, really, not a real music box. You turn the hand crank and it plays “Happy Birthday.” That’s it.
But as I experienced another birthday today, nothing made me happier — if only briefly — than this little piece of cheap metal and plastic.
Why? It has nothing to do with the device itself. There are a million similar things out there which I wouldn’t even notice. So why this one?
It was a birthday gift from a woman who used to love me. It was part of a box of whimsical delights that she spent an afternoon carefully selecting for me in the past. I still have the box and the music-maker and a few other things.
I keep them because such tiny objects have the power to hold onto love — and playing that silly little box allowed me to feel loved by her again. Just for a minute.
What will you do when ‘electing the right people’ doesn’t change things?
Are we destined to become our parents? Or can we be different?
Everybody has times when he needs someone to save his life
I grew up knowing that my mother was beautiful.
We’re neither friends nor enemies, just strangers who share the past
‘This path leads to somewhere I think I can finally say, I’m home’
Society needs storytellers to help make sense of a changing world
When love finally dies, it’s like a fever breaks and the pain is gone