To Give or Receive?

We are trying something different in our writing group. We will take turns coming up with a "prompt" for our group to write about. When I came home and told Ken I had the first prompt he gave me a suggestion which I thought was really good.

He said, "Ask the group to write about when (if) they realized it was better to give than receive."

Over the next few days, I tried to formulate how I would write about that topic. It was interesting but I couldn't pinpoint any particular time when I actually realized I enjoyed giving more than receiving.

Memories came back to me of shopping at Christmastime as a child. While in gradeschool my sister, Bobbie, and my two brothers, Wes and Jeff, and I would usually shop at G.C. Murphy Store for our gifts. We would each have a dollar or two to spend. At that time, there were five children in our family, our parents, and two sets of grandparents. Our younger brother, Tom, was too young to shop then.

We would pool our money together to buy gifts and would put more than one name on the tag in the "From" section. We must have been good at mathematics because we made those couple dollars go a long way.

Coloring books could be had for 5-10 cents each, puzzles were not too expensive, and our parents and grandparents got some wonderful ashtrays and Christmas ornaments over the years.

One particular Christmas, Wes, Jeff and I found that "perfect gift" for Bobbie. It cost more than we usually spent on one gift but we all agreed it was so nice we had to get it for her. Somehow we came up with the two to three dollars this beautiful ring with the yellow/gold stone cost. We were so excited to see her reaction when she opened it. I'm sure somewhere in the depths of her jewelry box today this ring would still HAVE to be there!

I'm not sure but I think this was the same year that I ran out of money. I had only one more gift to buy and it was for my mother. How could I not have a gift for my mother? It was unthinkable. Of all people, you HAVE to have a gift for your mom.

I agonized over this and worried what she would think. I didn't want to hurt her feelings or make her think I had forgotten about her. So I wrote a card for her and put it under the tree. I explained that I had no more money to buy something for her. I wrote something to this affect, "When you read this, I have a kiss for you. I love you Mom."

I still remember her getting up and coming over to me to collect that kiss. She reassured me that my gift was perfect.