Italy is beautiful, warm crisp air with sights of people buzzing all around. Turning the corner a speaker blares “Mambo Italiano”. The skinny alleyways are filled to the max with people being shoulder to shoulder while walking. That's when I stop and see a building with a halo-like glow all around it. With tiny doors and a very short ceiling, my head almost brushes the entrance of the doorway. Cases and cases of gold jewelry are lined inside this place and that's when I know that the earrings I'm looking for are somewhere in there.

What was only ten seconds will last a lifetime. 300 euros are being held in my sweaty hands about to hand it over to a person who doesn’t even speak English. Looking up into his eyes they are a hazel-like color and he has very bushy eyebrows. Long dark hair tied into a bun on the back of his head he looks back at me with a puzzled expression wondering why I stopped. Are they even real, how do I know I’m not getting scammed? Thoughts are racing in my head a mile a minute asking myself if I should really do this. The minute I see them placed in my hand, time stops. They’re beautiful, the golden rim all around it, and the swirly delicate design. These earrings are going to be my best friend till the day I hand them over to my daughter. 

When you think about earrings most of the time they’re just something that you can buy again because they were cheap. But the ones I got from Italy are not. They are about the size of a quarter and they are two of the prettiest earrings you will see. They are finely sized being about 2/16 inches thick and they sit in the front hole of my ears at all times. Smooth and bumpy are all you feel when you touch them. Physically they weigh about 0 pounds but symbolically they are a huge positive weight that I carry with me at all times.

Family, love, and safety are all carried with me anytime I wear those earrings. When I bought these beautiful earrings I was where my family is from and where I know that I can have a sense of family with me at all times. They also carry love and kindness because knowing I have a family that loves me is what helps keep me going through all the hard times.