Sitting on my office desk facing me is a Tiffany Lalique glass crystal sculpted eagle head. 

My parents gave it to me forty-seven years ago for my bar mitzvah.  And for all of those forty-seven years, through high school, college, and law school, in St. Louis and Chicago, and back through a number of homes in New York, I have always had it with me.  Over a dozen times I have wrapped it in thick newspaper and placed it in a box for a move to this place or that, from city to city and home to home.  This year I decided to bring  it to my office where it sits facing me every day.

I wondered, when I was a youngster, why would my parents get such a gift for a thirteen year old boy?  What about a bicycle, or a trip somewhere, or a first pair of skis, or stereo system?  Who is this Lalique anyway, and who cares?  What was I going to do with this very heavy head stuck to a piece of wood?

The tip of its beak is now broken off.  Its wooden base is worn and scratched, and the gold plaque on its face that once said something ending in "Love, Mom and Dad," is missing.  Maybe I was not as careful packing it as I should have.   The damage has upset me over the years, as if I have not been responsible.

But now, as things go, I see its condition in a different light. Its broken beak tip and missing inscripted plaque are fitting reminders of what was lost and broken in our family growing up -- my parents unhappy and painful divorce when I was in high school.   I was the first of anyone I knew to have two homes.   When I look at my eagle I also see how each of my parents were broken in their own very different way at the end of their lives.

Though the crystal is damaged,  it equally reminds me of what is good and unbroken.   It has been strong and resilient, its eyes piercing and protective, still reflecting, still robust.  Its beak still firm.  All of those other could-have-been gifts would have been in the garbage dump.   My eagle head is still here.  And it is a constant reminder of two people, gone, but who I love. 

I now know why they bought me my special eagle head for my birthday long ago.

I don't remember if I ever thanked you for it.  But I have cherished it all these years.  Thank you, mom and dad.   What a good gift it has been.