Irreplaceable

What are the three most invaluable gifts you have ever received in your entire life, so far?

College ring, bread toaster, pressed leaf. These three may appear random object words in The Wheel of Fortune or your “Head’s Up” game app. But these made it to the top three, upgraded into memorabilia.

My beautiful mother gave me her college ring a night before my freshman year in high school. The bronze-tinged regalia does not fit her ring finger anymore. I tried it on and it felt like its swelling on mine. It was weighty especially for this girl who doesn't wear jewelry. I kept it. It has made its way from my hometown to the USA, in a fancy, gilded, tiny pouch. I show it to my kids only for their viewing pleasure. They can’t wear it nor run around with it. Her ring signifies her hard work and resilience as she made it through the heavily flooded streets of Manila to make it in time for school.

The toaster was from her, too. She used it for many years while living in New York. I can only imagine the countless toasts she prepped on a rush hour to catch the morning train. Or when she and father can actually sit down on a Saturday morning and brush a melting butter over their freshly toasted brioche. She loves to entertain friends. I think she has more than a dozen basketful of loaves made on this toaster. I can tell because after using it for over a year, the smell of electric burn diffuses through the whole house. Jigs thinks it’s a safety hazard and I had to let it go after 3 years of pressing.

The pressed leaf? We drove to Florida one Christmas. We visited aunt Lourdes whom our kids adore. It was a cold, cloudy and breezy afternoon when we strolled down the sandy beaches of Melbourne with blankies wrapped around our necks. It didn’t take long until we decide to head back. But we sure whooped it up with the Pentatonix Christmas. I pulled this rigid, rounded, deep green leaf from an aged and sturdy tree, then etched the date 12/20/15. It was the year when my mother passed away and I needed this getaway.

My mother's thoughtful presents were significant in each stage of my life. But like any material gift, they rust, rot, and quit working. And I thought, what if the real gift hides behind the hands that wrap it? Because if that’s the case, my mother was my gift. Her memories are my delight.

In her daughter’s eyes, there’s no one like her, nor will there ever be.

You may have given out gifts left on the floor. But it’s not what you have given away that makes you invaluable. It's that person residing inside of you that makes you irreplaceable .

From the day you were conceived in the most secret place, you have no substitute in the face of the earth.

But as it is written, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him." 1 Corinthians 2:9