A Safari to Say Thank You
When zebras, giraffes, and lions tell a story that began many years ago
This post is also available in Spanish. Read it here
There are gifts that seem small when they are given.
A zebra.
A lion.
A stuffed animal.
A thoughtful gesture meant to bring a smile to a child’s face.
But the love with which a gift is given is never small.
For years, Luisa filled Matías’ life with joy through little things she knew he loved. She gave him his favorite zebra and many other animal figurines that we still treasure today.
This week, while going through a difficult time, she arrived at work with no idea what was waiting for her.
Her coworkers had prepared a celebration in honor of her 25 years of service.
And there they were.
The zebra.
The giraffe.
The lion.
The entire safari.
When she saw it all, she was moved to tears.
To others, it may have seemed like a beautiful decoration.
For us, it was impossible not to recognize Matías.
Because if there was one thing we felt when we saw those images, it was GRATITUDE.
The gratitude of a child who deeply loved each one of those gifts.
The gratitude for a woman who always took the time to make him smile.
The gratitude for someone who planted joy without ever imagining how long it would remain.
We cannot explain all the paths love takes.
But we do know how to recognize gratitude when it appears.
And this week, we saw it reflected in zebras, giraffes, lions, and tears of emotion.
Thank you, Luisa.
💙
One of Matías’ most beautiful qualities was his loyalty.
When his beloved zebra lost its tail and began to show the marks of so many years of love and adventures, Luisa gave him another one exactly like it. But Matías continued choosing the original. The new one was beautiful, but to him it was not the same, because Matías did not love things for how they looked; he loved them for the story he shared with them.
One day, he even lost it.
We had walked from home to a mall, nearly a mile away, when we realized the zebra was no longer with us. Matías became frantic. Without hesitation, we retraced our steps, following the exact same route, hoping to find some clue.
And there it was.
Next to a wooden utility pole.
Someone had found it and carefully placed it in a visible spot so it could make its way back to its owner.
When Matías saw it, his joy was indescribable.
That zebra came home.
And from that day on, if possible, he loved it even more.
And when I had just finished writing these lines about Matías’ zebra, something happened that made us smile.
Andrés looked up toward the window of our bedroom and said to me:
“Come see this. It looks like a zebra.”
On the window mesh, some lines had formed that surprisingly resembled a zebra. Andrés saw a big one. I discovered a smaller one.
Maybe they had always been there.
Maybe we had just never noticed them.
But after spending hours remembering the story of his beloved zebra, talking about Luisa and Matías’ loyalty to that companion from his adventures who accompanied him for years, it was impossible not to pause and look.
We don’t know how to explain all the paths love takes.
But we do know that, sometimes, memories find unexpected ways to make us smile.
💙🦓
❤️💙❤️ 🦓