THE BEST GIFT EVER

When I was a little girl, someone gave me a moving company box. I turned it upside down and cut out a door and a window. It was the best gift ever! I have seen toddlers tossing gifts aside and delightedly playing with the wrapping paper. Sometimes a simple item will surprise and delight---or not.

Fifty years ago, when my friends Bob and Lynne were planning their wedding, Lynne’s wealthy Aunt told them that she was sending them a valuable, irreplaceable gift.  Lynne imagined a beautiful piece of china or crystal, but when the package arrived, it turned out to be two extremely heavy, hippopotamus head bookends.  “I hated those bookends, but I didn’t want to hurt my Aunt’s feelings,” Lynne bemoaned. “But, no matter how many times we moved, and no matter how many times I dropped those damned hippopotamus, they never did break.”

It makes us happy to give gifts, and we hope that what we have given people will make them happy. However, in all fairness, sometimes gift giving can be daunting. On occasion, I have given gifts and received no acknowledgment, so there was no way to know if the gift was received, let alone appreciated. Often gift cards are not used, and mailed checks are not cashed.  In those cases, if someone would only say, “Thank you. You shouldn’t have”---I wouldn’t have.

My husband, Warren (of blessed memory) was a very generous man, but on occasion he would bring me some odd gifts. I received loaves of sourdough bread carried in a suitcase from San Francisco, and a Styrofoam box containing a lobster from Boston. That made some kind of weird sense since he liked both sourdough bread and lobster. And he was the boy, who, many years ago, had given his dainty mother a basketball for her birthday.

 However, when he got off the commuter train in Chicago, and presented me with a beautiful bouquet of flowers, I thought it a bit odd since he had never brought me flowers before. I was really touched until I noticed the big, black ribbon that tied the flowers together with a sticker wishing me a “peaceful rest.”

“Thank you,” said I, “But what’s up with the black ribbon?” He had a big smile on his face when he said, “All day long, vendors were selling these bouquets on every corner for the Senator’s funeral. At the end of the day, they were giving them away, so I brought one for you.” 

He looked so proud, that I didn’t have the heart to say, “I’m glad you didn’t bring me the wreath.” I know it is the thought that counts, but I never did figure out what in the world he was thinking.

It is best not to expect too much, because sometimes you will be disappointed. When I was a pre-teen, I really wanted a bicycle, but when I saw the box, I knew this was going to be something I couldn’t ride. Some door-to-door salesman had talked my parents into buying me a large all-in-one-book encyclopedia. When I saw how excited and proud they were to give me that gift, I swallowed my disappointment, and thanked them profusely. After awhile, I did use the book, and eventually got my bike. 

I am glad that my parents never knew how disappointed I was with their gift, because the love behind it was what really counted.  Afterall, the people who care about us are the real gifts---the real blessings---that we should cherish everyday.

Esther Blumenfeld