The gift

If you are a woman then it is quite probable, if not a 100% certainty, that you have been invited to one of those home parties.  You know the ones - everything from jewelry to baskets to make-up to kitchen gadgets can be had.  And it's all centered around some conversation, come tasty snacks, and a nice glass of wine.

If you are not a woman...then it is quite probably, if not a 100% certainty, that a woman in your life has gone to one of these and bought something.

They aren't really my thing, but...I go.  Mostly to see friends.  I've even hosted these parties before...not because I want to earn points and get more stuff, but to support friends who are sales representatives.  Plus, sending my children out with their dad and having an evening with friends to catch up is akin to gold.

So, my friend came over to set up her jewelry; I had the snacks ready; the kids were set to go to pizza and a movie with their dad....and, my youngest son wouldn't go.  UGH.  Best laid plans.  All he wanted to do was stay with me.

I tried to explain to him how boring it would be for him - a bunch of women trying on necklaces and braclets, talking 'girl-talk,' and eating foods he wouldn't like.

I didn't matter.  There was no budging him.  So, the other two left and he stayed.

He watched as the representative took pieces to people to try on and my friends tried them on.  He watched as peoples 'oohed' and 'aahed' over all the pretty things.  Quickly he figured out a way to 'help'. He started picking out what he deemed the prettiest of things and took them to my friends, helping them get them on.

He was a very good salesmen.

At one point he disappeared up to his room, only to return with all the money from his piggy bank.  He gave it to the representative so he could buy me a pair of little silver cross earrings.  I saw what he was doing and quickly said, "Oh sweetie.  You don't have to do that.  I can buy them with the points I get.  Plus, you don't have to use your money."

And then...he started to cry.

Big, large, crocodile tears.

I was confused.

"I want to get them for you, Mommy.  Don't you love them?  They are Jesus earrings."

My friend, the sales representative, pulls him aside and whispers, "You have been such a good helper.  I pay all my helpers, but if you would rather use the money I would give you to get those earrings, you can do that...".

Essentially, she gave the earrings to him for free, so he could give them to me.  He wanted them to be a gift from him to me.

I wear those earrings at least three times a week - for the past 4 years and every time I put them on I think about him.  And when he sees the earrings, he smiles and says, "Those are the earrings I gave to you."

And when he says that it's like he's saying, "I love you," in a whole other way.

My friend who is the sales rep, she says she still tells that story at parties.  She says it was one of the sweetest things she ever saw.

Take the gift.  Don't refuse.  Just smile and say 'thanks' and hold the giver super tight.  Because it's never about the gift...it's about what's behind the gift.