Before we leave, we’re quite clear: no unnecessary extras this time. On the way, we explain to the kids that we can’t bring everything home. Two days later, we’re admiring a bowl that would definitely come in handy. We just haven’t worked out what for yet.
Everyone has their own treasure
The kids might choose a postcard, a little figure or an entrance ticket that must absolutely not be thrown away. We fall for pottery, shoes or a dress we convince ourselves is exactly our new style. We never wear anything like it at home? Precisely. It was time for a change.
We don’t all have to share the same taste in keepsakes. A little one’s treasure might look perfectly ordinary to us. But they know exactly why they chose that particular one, and sometimes it comes with a much longer story than we expected. And that enormous “little pebble” that has to stay where it is? It can come home in a photo, with its proud finder beside it.
The suitcase begs to differ
Everything looks more compact on a shop shelf than beside the open suitcase that’s flying home with us. Especially when the new bowl mustn’t break, the picture mustn’t bend and the cuddly toy needs a view and plenty of air.
Except the suitcase was already full on the way here. We wrap the bowl in a T-shirt, rearrange the shoes and briefly give serious thought to how many layers we could wear on the plane.
Back home, it comes with a story
Once we’re home, the postcard might become a picture above the bed, and the little figure might join every adventure around the house.
In a few months, we may have forgotten what the bowl cost. But we’ll remember the little shop where we found it, and how we brought it home tucked between our socks. And the kids will probably remind us, once again, that their pebble would definitely have fitted in the suitcase too.