Chapter 23 - THE THREE ORIGINAL MEDALS
At twenty-one, Ella found the original medals while packing for college.
Coffee stains were long gone.
Ribbons slightly faded.
She held them up.
“Why did we keep these?”
I laughed.
“You refused to throw them away.”
“They’re ugly.”
“You loved them.”
“I was five.”
“Yes.”
She tried one on.
Then another.
“Do you want them?” she asked me.
“No.”
“Dad?”
“No.”
“Grandma?”
I looked at her.
“Ask her if you genuinely want to.”
She did not.
Instead, Ella put them into a shoebox with:
School certificates.
Race bibs.
Bad drawings.
A friendship bracelet.
One broken keychain.
They became childhood objects.
Not sacred evidence.
Not trauma artifacts.
That was healthier.
Her actual adult achievement?
She studied environmental engineering.
She was good.
Not because she had always been a medal winner.
Because she liked solving systems.
At college orientation she wrote:
Family income sources: trust distribution / parental income.
No shame.
No secrecy.
Her beneficiary education reserve paid part of tuition.
Ben and I paid part.
Scholarship covered some.
May you like
Money became accounting.
Not love.
