Time with family was the best birthday gift

I received a great present from my brother, David, this year. He called me several days ago. It seems he had spent the better part of the afternoon searching for the Christmas present he and his wife had bought for me last summer. He said he was tired of searching and had decided to take me shopping instead.

I told him that I don’t need presents but he wouldn’t take no for an answer. He picked me up in the morning and we headed for the mall. It was closed. We went on down the road until we found something open.

We wandered around for awhile and ended up in the lighting department. Both of us saw the light at the same time. We agreed that it looked like something our brother, Michael, would like. As his birthday is later this week, we bought it for him and split the price.

By this time the mall was open. We did a lap around the stores and stopped at the bookstore. I found a couple of books and David picked up a magazine for himself.

As much as I love books, the best present was having David all to myself. We talked about our cats and their preference for placing hairballs directly in the path of where we walk. We agreed that he could never install a doggy door for his dog. Any door the dog could fit through would have to be big enough for a person to wiggle through. We talked about anything and everything. We even talked politics.

I told him that when my daughter, Beth, called on my birthday, she had asked when we were moving down there. In the background I heard granddaughter, Emma, say I could live in their barn if they fixed the door. I informed her I was not about to live in their barn, whether it had a door or not.

At some point David called Michael and asked if he wanted to celebrate the February birthdays. He said he would. We all agreed to meet at our house.

This is the first time that we celebrated our collective birthdays that I didn’t bake anything. There was no cake. There were no cookies. I didn’t even bother to clean the house.

Michael and his wife, Diane, gave us enough time to wrap Michael’s present before they knocked on the door. Michael was bearing an angel for my garden.

We talked and visited until the sun went down. It was the best thing they could give me. The gift of time was better than any present found in stores.

Sometimes we forget how much our families mean to us. Shared stories and experiences are the glue that ties us one to another. Things are not important. The older I get, the less  stuff I want. I would rather give possessions away than accumulate more.

I’m glad David can’t find my present. Spending the day trading stories was far better than anything he will find now that he is no longer looking for it.