After my family and dogs, I would have to make a mad dash for my "Uncle Jack Jewelry Box".
Story has it that when my Uncle Jack was in Vietnam he bought me a jewelry box to be given to me when I was old enough to care for it. I was under a year old when he came back from the Army.
I knew nothing of this jewelry box until my grandparents were in town for my high school graduation. Before we left for the ceremony, my grandma brought out the jewelry box and told me the story of how it came to be mine. Mom, me and grandma were all crying because my Uncle Jack was in the hospital with a possible heart attack and couldn't be with us. Grandma let me wind it up and allowed me to watch the ballerinas float on the glass and reflect in the mirrors but only for a second. She couldn't bare hearing the song it played because it reminded her Jack. I called his room and told him that I loved my gift. He told me that he loved me and he was sorry he couldn't be there. I told him that I loved him and I would be thinking about him at graduation. And I did.
We lost Uncle Jack 4 years later. I use the jewelry box for special jewelry, not for every day stuff. I can't help but wind it up and play it every year on Uncle Jack's birthday.
