peanut butter and crest whitening strips

July 2008 found my daughter in Alicante, Spain hosted by a wonderful Spanish family. I had made a connection the month before, when while visiting friends in Minnesota, I met a young man, Jorge, who was visiting the USA from Alicante, Spain. He extended the invitation for her to stay with them for a few days while she backpacked around Spain. So she did. She fell in love with the entire family - and felt a special bond with Jorge's mother, Suni. Suni has no daughters and enjoyed 'having one' for a few days. I feel a special bond with Suni, though I've never met her for taking care of my daughter while she was a guest with the same love and attention that I give to her.

My daughter's next stop in her travels around Spain was in Grenada, where she discovered upon trying to check into her hostel that she no longer had her passport in her belongings. She frantically called Suni, thinking that perhaps she had forgotten it in the trunk of a friend's car one day while they were visiting the beach. The next day, the forgotten passport was found and forwarded to a contact in Grenada. After the passport arrived, my daughter was able to continue her travels in Spain with the help and love of this family.

While she spent time with them, Jorge assisted her with editing some written translation my daughter had done, and asked just for peanut butter and crest whitening strips sent to him from the USA in return for his help. His request made my daughter (and me) smile. Just this past weekend, my daughter was home from college for a few days and purchased the requested peanut butter and crest whitening strips in preparation for sending a package to Spain.

I decided that I wanted to send Suni a thank-you-note and a gift of thanks. I made her a beautiful pair of earrings.... and then made an identical pair for my daughter so that they'll each have the same unique item worlds away. It was a brand new design, but I think that it is retired already... two very special people share a special gift in recognition of love and friendship, gratitude and thanks, and sharing and caring for one another. The design does not contain hearts with cutouts for a key or keys. But it is a twist on a mother's ring, and a twist of the heart on one piece of jewelry and the key on another. There are two tiny heart charms, shells for recognition of the beach on the Mediterranean, blue and green to soothe and calm, and clear crystal that sparkles and shines in representation of love and friendship.

Although we seem so far removed from other countries, even just distant cities in our own countries, we really are only as far away as our hearts are and sometimes that's not far at all. I don't know if I'll ever get to meet Suni and the family in Spain, but a little piece of my heart is on it's way there, along with peanut butter and crest whitening strips.