The Gift

This morning I received the most unexpected gift.

I had just been scrolling through endless posts on Facebook, jumping from page to page, clicking on link to link, reading the innermost thoughts and opinions of my friends/friends of friends/friends of friends of friends, and contemplating articles about life’s many happinesses and tragedies. While trying to make sense of it all, I was beginning to grow a little overwhelmed…

“Did that man really swim with crocodiles…more than once?”

“Oh…so that’s what an all natural water birth in the rainforest looks like…”

“Anti-what-now?”

Just as I was getting sucked deeper and deeper into the infamous Facebook vacuum that causes one to lose all sense of time and place, I got an email from a good friend that snapped me out of my daze.

My friend told me she was gifting me with a ticket to an event that we both really wanted to go to, but that I wasn’t sure I could afford at the moment. She told me that she understood my current financial situation, but that she couldn’t imagine me missing out on such a cool experience. She had recently gotten some extra money and decided she would use it to buy this awesome gift we could both enjoy together. My heart swelled. I had put all thoughts of attending this event on the backburner until I could save enough money to go, never once imagining it would ever be gifted to me, let alone by this friend of mine who had her own set of worries to manage.

I am so deeply moved by my lovely friend’s thoughtfulness, amazed by the extent of her generosity, and grateful for her kindness and deep unconditional friendship. Seeing how much she cares about me, my friendship, and my happiness has inspired me to be a better me today – to give more, to love more, to be more – in the hopes that sharing my gifts with the world may inspire someone else to do the same.