In my family, we don’t give each other sentimental gifts but I wish we did. My most sentimental object is something I found in my parent’s room. As a kid, you don’t fully understand the conflicts that happen in your family especially if you’re the younger sibling. Everyone tries to shelter you away from the drama and make life easier for you, but you can always feel the problems. I felt the tension and animosity between my parents. As a little 5th grader, I knew something wasn’t right between them and may never be, but I believed and still do, even though it was really hard at the time, that they had something special together at one point. What made me feel this way was a picture I found of them. It’s a small wallet size picture with a sepia-like filter of them happily holding hands in their early 30s. I have never seen my parents show affection to each other and so that picture made me really happy and gave me hope. Holding hands may not seem like a great gesture but to me I think that and their expressions were enough for me. I told myself, “They probably forgot this existed and would probably lose it again if I returned it”. So I stole it and kept it in my little 5th grader wallet. I always pulled it out during lunch or whenever I felt lonely. I am always so jealous of my friends who have parents that are super cute to each other. I often wondered if my life would be like my parents’ and if I would also end up unhappy and regretful. But the picture helped me believe that they weren’t always like this and reminds me to work hard, not necessarily in love but in general, to make myself happy in the future.