Yesterday was an old friend's birthday~ we've known each other since 10th grade, this friendship has weathered ups, downs, distance, but it still holds. We are old friends.
I recently started a tradition of sending her a box filled with little gifts for her birthday, and for Christmas...
Those little things I pick up in clearance racks or things that are inexpensive~ like scented votive candles.
Picking out all the different scents is so much fun! I could spend an hour going through them, smelling them, figuring out which ones I like best, which ones I think she'll like...!
Plus, I might throw in a great cd or two of the serene music that makes me feel so good to listen to, to unwind and recharge, a magazine I think she'll like...
Anything fun, cute, beautiful, funny. Anything that gives the feminine observer serenity, just by looking at it. Anything that makes me think of her when I see it...
It's a blast to do!~ I probably get as much enjoyment out of it as she does!
(Though I always wish I could be there when she opened it up, so I could watch her go through it all!)
This box had:
ribbon with a print on it that reminded me of her,
the little scented candles,
some "fancy" tissues with a baroque pattern on it,
a decorative votive ring (it looks like a grapevine made of glass),
a cool Decor Ball (the one we have at home was such a hit!),
a pocket-sized Cat calendar (she has a whole passle of adored felines!),
the latest Paula Deen magazine (she cooks Southern, like Paula~ and who doesn't love Paula Deen?),
a cute little Sharpie highlighter (because it was so little and cute!),
the best soap I've every come across ("Grandpa's Oatmeal Organic Soap"~ it does better on me than even Crabtree & Evelyn, so I'm hoping my friend will like it, too),
a birthday card,
plus more, probably. I can't remember all that I stocked up on, these months, and put in there.
I usually write and stick a post-it note on each item~ for instance, on the packet of printed tissues, I wrote, "God bless you!"
And then, I put them pell-mell into a box, with some lovely wrapping paper as liner.
(Having had a Dad who sold antiques at a flea market, I know that customers looove digging deep for hidden treasure~ it's the thrill of the find, the happy surprise of discovering something good!)
It's just a lot of fun to put these boxes together ~ I know she'll enjoy digging through the treasures as much as I enjoyed gathering them!
Celebrate!
But this year, I think her birthday had a chance to be one of the nicest she's had.
In the past, she suffered from depression~ with pretty good reason. She had her share of problems.
Because we shared similar problems when we were younger (no money, bad marriages), we learned over time the importance of attitude and faith in dealing with problems.~
I was poorer and had a much-worse first marriage than she, but I had a good attitude, worked hard to strengthen my faith, and had a lot of hope inside me.
I ended up being able to pull out of that dark pit, and create a better life than she was able to do. That was always kind of sad, because her problems overshadowed her blessings for her, they just seemed to get worse and worse.
And I couldn't do anything about it.
The light breaks through
But that bad, depressed time has changed~ she's been really working on her faith and hope, for the last year or so; she and her husband were given her mother-in-law's paid-for house; their marriage had improved after a separation, and the other weighty problem she had grew up and moved out! ~ So, now the grief given is sporadic, gentler than what she had to deal with, before.
With less depression, she wasn't sitting on the couch as much or eating as much, and her job as a waitress has taken a lot of her extra weight off, without her even trying!
Now, THAT's something to be jubilant about!
Couldn't you just die?? She didn't even have to try! The pounds just melted away on her till she was almost the size she was in high school!
But it's been great to see this happen to her, and it's been a great inspiration for me to stick with my own healthplan, and keep on going for my ideal weight and tone!
For maybe the first time in her adult life, she doesn't have to struggle financially and worry about the future~ and she's in "her skinny jeans", after almost 2 decades of being out of them!
Clearer view
After all these good changes came, she relaxed, and began to take stock of her life, and where it was going~ with hope in her, this time!
She decided that since she always wanted to be a music director, and had extensive music training of all kinds, she would start learning the piano, and train to become a music director for a church. Last I talked with her, she was working diligently towards that new goal!
So, here's to better times, and a chance at even better!
Happy birthday, Tracey!
