We recently opened a package sent by my parents and sister from the US. It was filled with goodies for the children: Oreo and Chips Ahoy, different kinds of healthy snack bars (one is all about nuts, the other is all about different grains, and there's the Fruit and Nut one), oats, gummy candy (vitamins and Welch fruit snacks), pancake mixes and syrup and one huge picture book for my youngest.
It was so great... and so humbling. I know how hard my parents and sister work there and they also have to endure harsh winters (They're based in Michigan).
Need I also mention that my Dad shouldered the cost of the books I ordered for Yakee? And my sister wanted to buy me a makeup kit... but I convinced her to channel the funds for a Trunki for Yamee instead (so he has something that he didn't inherit from his older brother, or something his older brother hasn't owned/enjoyed yet). That's me acknowledging the perks of firstborns and loving my second-born just as much as my eldest.
Anyway, It is really humbling when we get showered with their generosity. So, because I have taken up knitting, I have been dreaming of knitting my mother and sister scarves (for use next autumn/winter, hehe, because I still have to learn to make even stitches). I know I can always just use giftrocket or something, but in my mind, the labor that will go into the knitting or crocheting is sure to warm them better someday.
Plus, Safeway gift cards may be wasted on them, in the sense that they're sure to just buy my sons more stuff with the gift cards instead of using it on themselves.
My sister tells me that it's their happiness to shop for the boys (my nephew included)... and I guess she just can't express it well, but it's also how they feel connected to us who they had to leave behind here.
What else can we give them in return though? Apart from shrimp paste and photos of the boys, that is.
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