Day 33 ❦ Some gifts are just simply a surprise.

Day 33

The Gift: A wall hanging.

Earlier I mentioned that almost immediately after I started this exercise, people began responding in unusual ways that not only did I notice, but in ways that my friends and family began commenting on. Today was just such a day.

My college roommate Cheryl and her husband and their two daughters were visiting us in Minnesota. They had just been visiting relatives at a family reunion in North Dakota and stopped by on the long drive back to the east coast. I always enjoy spending time with them. The kind of friendship that I have with Cheryl is the kind that everyone should have. We can go for years without talking and when we do connect, it seems like we have spent everyday of our lives talking. The friendship is easy, fun and filled with admiration and respect for each other.

I have been looking forward to their arrival since I learned they were going to be passing through and was even more excited when I realized that they were going to be in town during the huge SPAM Jam that happens every now and then in Austin, Minnesota; home of Hormel Foods Company which makes SPAM right here in Austin. The festivities take place over several days and we are going to the carnival first today. There are rides, games and entertainment happening all over the park, the weather is a little hot but sunny and there are people everywhere. The girls are having a blast and I am enjoying watching my friends as they take in all that is SPAM, SPAM carving contests, SPAM eating contests and the SPAMettes performing SPAM songs from the amphitheater. Then, from nowhere a man walks up to me and gives me a beautiful 4x6 inch wall hanging. As he hands it to me he say, “I am giving this to you to give to someone else” and walks away.

I do not recognize the man and I am too stunned to run after him to ask his name, so I stand there and look at the wall hanging. It is a small framed drawing of a peaceful looking little girl with two angels looking over her. I had all kinds of things I was thinking about gifting today and yet this seemed too perfect an opportunity to pass up. So I went to the rides area and watched to find a Mom who looked a little frazzled and stressed. It did not take long to find her. I walked up to her and handed her the wall hanging and told her that I was instructed to give her that gift and then I turned and walked away. For the rest of the day I neither ran into the man from whom I had received the gift, nor the woman to whom I had passed it along. I did find myself laughing out loud several times in disbelief that I had been the person to whom the gift had been handed to pass along.

❦ Some gifts are just simply a surprise for both the giver and the receiver.