Purpose Driven Present

I have been visiting a nursing home each day in a nearby town. Just before Thanksgiving, in support of the residents, there were tables lined with many theme-styled gift baskets/hampers. Sports, pets, wines, spas, games and lottery were some of the themes. A person could buy tickets and then put their stubs in a tin can associated with the basket. The staff would pull the winning tickets on December 16th.

So, I thought I’d show my support. Bought a string of tickets and plunked them down in the various tins. Baskets that appealed to me.

Well, December 16th rolls around and I am making my daily visit. The receptionist sees me and exclaims, “Mary, you won!”

“TWO baskets!”

Funny, it just happened to be one of those days. God must have thought I needed a little pick-me-up.

One was a “Pot of Gold.”It had fifty scratch-off lottery tickets.

The other was a “Family Games” hamper.

I brought them home and under the Christmas tree they went. Thought it would be fun to have my adult children open them on December 25th.

Christmas morning arrives. After exchanging gifts, we all furiously scratched the fifty tickets. Some small winnings here and there. No big jackpots.

No one seemed interested in the “Family Games” basket so I opened it later in the day.

Table tennis, whiffle balls and more!

Wait, one box contained a juggling kit. Something new to learn! To hell with the on-line Latin course!

Donum cape! Seize the gift!

But what’s wrong with the following photo?

I cannot lie. The word “video” on the box didn’t capture my attention. Too intent on the contents.

I opened the box and noticed a few things not quite right. The leathery balls in bright, primary colors seemed to almost flake in my hands. I quickly put them back in the box before they disintegrated. There are already too many messes to clean in the house.

The other thing was that there was a musty smell coming from the box.

There was also a video. A video??? It’s been ages since we have had a VCR in this home.

So, yes, this particular box in the basket was quite dated.

Was I disappointed? No. I thought it was funny.

I totally understand how this happened. These were all gift baskets donated by friends and families of nursing home residents. While some folks went out and purchased items I am quite certain a few donors looked around their houses, attics and garages to happily contribute/compile a theme basket.

There are some lessons here.

If you are hanging on to something?

Let it go! Let it go! Let it go!

It does not even have to be a material, physical thing.

Give your gifts while they are fresh. Current. Useful. While you are fresh. Current. Useful.

Do not save your gift giving for a rainy day. Or a rainy year. Or a rainy decade.

It might not serve any purpose.

There is no time like the present. A purpose driven present.

Wishing you all a happy and healthy new year! A purpose driven 2023!

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Sweating

The last six months have been very busy for me. At times quite stressful.

The weekend of my daughter’s high school graduation (she graduated on the Friday) seemed especially busy. My husband was preparing to fly back to India on the Sunday with Thumper (the infamous canine) in cargo. We were worried about the mutt. And doing a bunch of last minute things.

We drove them to the airport (an hour from our home) hours earlier than the flight to ensure all paperwork in order.

It was hot. But it’s always hot in Malaysia.

And I was sweating. But I was always sweating in Malaysia.

Had to rush home from the airport because a friend was in from Australia and we needed to meet a group for dinner.

It was rush, rush and rush.

Got home but no time for a shower. What to do?

Brushed my hair and put it up in a clip. Some lip color.

I stunk. Just being honest. So I grabbed a face cloth and soap and cleaned under my arms.

Because I smelled like a person who had labored all day in the Malaysian heat without deodorant. For the record I do wear deodorant. Sometimes it fails me. In Malaysia.

At least I’m aware of it.

Hightailed it out of the house with my daughters and our friends who lived two doors down to meet up with our visiting friends at an Indian restaurant in the city.

It ended up being a lovely evening. The young folks went home right after dinner. My daughters had an early flight out in the morning. My friend and I went with the visitors for a couple of drinks after dinner.

Not a late night.

Arrived home and readied myself for bed. Now, thankfully, I only smelled like Indian food and wine.

My eldest, who sleeps with me when she’s at home and my husband is not, mumbled a few words like, “How was it?”

I took that as my cue for conversation.

She’s not always a fan. Because I’m sometimes pillow to pillow, “Remember your friend, Melissa, from second grade? Whatever happened to her?” and the like.

So I said, “Was a good night with the friends.”

And then continued conversing.

She said, “Not tonight, Mom. Early flight tomorrow.”

Totally respected that and snuggled into my pillow for a good night’s sleep.

Few minutes later I hear, “Mom?”

“Yes?”

“When we came back from airport did you shower?” she asked.

“No! You know I didn’t have time for that. Had to get downtown. I just cleaned under my arms with soap and water.”

She continued, “With the face cloth that’s on the sink?”

“Yup.”

“Oh.”

Okay, I laughed out loud even though I was nearly in slumber town. Couldn’t help myself.  Total belly laugh.

I said, “I’m going to blog about this one day.”

She replied, “Be more embarrassing for you though.”

I retorted, “Not really. It was my face cloth. Who uses someone else’s face cloth????”

Wishing you all a fun weekend! With a belly laugh or two! I promise to be better at updating the blog!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Unintentional Donations

So funny that my last posting was about some items being unintentionally donated.

I received an email from a gal at the school office Tuesday afternoon.

“Mary, I think there might be two or three vacuum attachments in one of the bags I left for you today. I just sold the vacuum. Could you please check?”

Sure enough, there they were. Got them back to her the next morning so the attachments and vacuum could be reunited.

Made me remember another vacuum story.

Last year, on a Friday evening, I was having a glass of wine at my neighbor’s house on her front patio.

Along comes another neighbor to visit. Probably had a glass or two of something before he arrived but certainly did not seem impaired in any way.

His wife had already left the  country with their children. He was staying in the nearly empty house while finishing up his last days of work in Malaysia.

We chatted about this and that. What we would be doing on the weekend. I mentioned that we were having a huge garage sale with the proceeds benefitting the refugee center.

He asked if I’d like a vacuum cleaner. Said it was a good one and he’d like to donate it. I told him that would be fabulous and he was welcome to leave it on my patio before 6:30am the next day.

I bid them both a good night and went home to get a decent sleep.

When I woke up the next morning the vacuum was by the front door. So very nice and generous of him.

It was one of the first things to sell that day. Yay!

Couple of days later this guy sends out a message to a group of neighbors. Something like, “This might sound like a weird question. But does anyone know where my vacuum is?”

LOL.

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Be Happy

I receive an Agriturismo newsletter from Italy in my email every month or so. Basically a taunting, “You could be here!” type of thing.

Well, not really. It’s more of an invite, “Why don’t you come see what you are missing?”

Agriturismo is basically two Italian words melded into one. Agriculture and tourism for you English speakers. Sort of like the word melt and weld=meld.

In a nutshell? It is a vacation in a rural farmhouse while enjoying locally grown food and wine. Sigh. Utterly peaceful except for the odd fox trying to get into a hen-house and making a racket.  They are all over Italy. Not the odd fox. I am referring to the agriturismos.

Outside Bologna

I was fortunate enough to have this experience more than once. That is why the love affair between Italy and me will never end.

But that is not even the reason for this posting. At the end of the newsletter there was a quote that caught my eye. I am not even researching to see if it is accurate. I like it that much.

Lorenzo the Magnificent once said, “Whoever wants to be happy, let him be so: of tomorrow there’s no knowing”.

Lorenzo (in the 1440s) had it going on!

And I would like to add something besides “Thanks, Lorenzo, for the art!”

Yes, let people be happy. Allow them their joy. Keep your negativity to yourself.

But what I might add is this. Every day we have a choice. Like Lorenzo said “Whoever WANTS to be happy…” We can be happy or not.

I look at it like this. If you have your health, a roof over your head and a meal in your belly then you have way more than most folks in the world. You should be happy about that. If you can’t be happy and want to spend the day being negative? Guess what? You’ve wasted a day of your life feeling badly or making others feel badly. If you don’t want to be happy then don’t regret the wasted days.

But do allow others to be happy.

Of tomorrow there’s no knowing.

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