I didn’t know what to get Vanessa for her birthday. She literally had everything.
When we were kids, I used to make her bracelets from seashells we drilled holes into and for my birthday, she’d give me those shiny rocks she found on the beach.
As we grew older, and drifted apart, we just gave each other expensive stuff and cleared each other's wish list.
This year, I wanted something different.
I wanted to take us back to ten years ago—when the gifts actually came from the heart.
I knocked lightly on her bedroom door, shifting my weight from one foot to the other, clutching the gift wrapped in purple paper tightly in my hands.
“Come in,” Vanessa called from inside.
I pushed the door open slowly.
Her room was filled with soft light and scattered gift bags, designer boxes, ribbons,
