On the last day of a trip to Mexico for my eighteenth birthday, my father told me to go
\ninto a store and pick something out. There were two stores at the hotel: a souvenir shop and a
\njewelry store. He meant the souvenir shop, but I misunderstood and walked into the jewelry store
\ninstead. Inside, I found a pair of earrings I liked, but they were expensive, so I waited for my
\nfather before deciding.
\nWhen he saw the price tag, I could tell they were more than he expected. Instead of
\nsaying no, he suggested we go to dinner and come back later. At dinner he told me how proud he
\nwas of me and how much he loved me. When we returned, the woman working there showed me
\nanother pair she thought would look nice. As I kept looking, I noticed Canadian gold sapphire
\nearrings and instantly knew those were the ones I loved. But they were more expensive than the
\nfirst pair and the other pair combined, so I didn\u2019t bother asking.
\nEven knowing that, my father bought all three.
\nThose sapphire earrings mean far more to me than jewelry. My parents immigrated to this
\ncountry with almost nothing. Everything they built came from sacrifice and hard work. When I
\nlook at those earrings, I see how far my family has come and feel motivated to expand the
\nsuccess my parents fought to create.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"