One of my colleagues received the most beautiful birthday gift recently. Her young son painted his face with ‘happy b-day mom’ and included little red hearts on each of his little pink cheeks. She showed us his picture with such love and pride. I swear it was the best present she received this year amongst her many material gifts. I’m not the broody kind (in fact I see children as little monsters – sorry!) but I really took a moment to enjoy the simplicity and purity of his thoughtful gift. It was too sweet!
Thinking back, some of my most special gifts have been along these lines. When my man and I first started dating he once drove all the way to my house in two hours of rush hour traffic to bring me a very special hug. When I worked on a volunteer prison programme a few years back the inmates made me a birthday pillow out of newspaper, plastic and scraps of material and they painted ‘We love you’ on it with my name. I will never part with it; it’s one of my most valuable treasures.
In this wonderful world of Louis Vuitton bags, Prada shoes, Tiffany jewels and Vera Wang dresses, we often forget that the best gifts are the unexpected ones, given from the heart that are thoughtfully unique. These are also the simplest gifts to give. Though my boss, Natalie Maroun, has rewarded me with a spa day, a birthday gift of shoes (which are ridiculously beautiful) and the most stunning Dior compact ever made, one of the most memorable items she’s given me after a job well done was a cerise pink post it note simply inked in her writing and placed on my laptop, saying “Princess! What a passionate, special girl you are!” I keep that post it at the back of my drawer for the days that I need to remember that I make a difference. Though I think the words will remain with me for much longer than the ink on that page.
I have slowly begun to learn to give what others treasure. Recently, I sent my young, hard-working protégé a BBM message thanking him for a tremendous job he did, all typed out in his language – Afrikaans. To give some context, I don’t speak or write the language very well, but I do try. He was thrilled to receive a message from me (though it had some mistakes) in which I made the effort to enter his world. He even phoned me (late on a Friday night I might add!) to thank me for the wonderful message. It made all the difference to him.
We can all be special gift givers. I don’t mean we should run around like hooligan tree-huggers and try to be do-gooders in every way. I mean, when you see a need, answer it. When the grocery store girl is looking down, tell her that you like her earrings (if you do), or ask her how her day has been. A few minutes of undeserved kindness and grace are the greatest gift. In South Africa we have beggars on some street corners. I used to ignore them and look forward when they walked past, but I’ve recently started to open my window, just a little, to ask the simplest question ‘how are you?’ It’s amazing to witness how just being acknowledged brings such joy. It’s a gift.
As High Heelers let’s lift others up this week. Let’s be sincere, encouraging gift-givers in the simplest ways. Let’s add light to lives and be memorable by being relevant.
Cheers,
Jo
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