Wednesday, October 7, 2009

The Simple Things in Life







My friend, Rene, had a birthday last Sunday. I love her take on birthdays. According to her, October is her "birthday month," so she is more than willing to accept birthday greetings and gifts throughout the entire month! I say, if you can get people to buy into that philosophy, go for it!

One of the things I love about Rene is her appreciation for beauty in the simple things of life. I'm not kidding when I say that she is moved to tears when she changes her calendar each month and a pretty new picture shows up. Or she'll tell me "Look at the apple I brought in my lunch. Isn't it pretty?" And of course her eyes are all teary as she shows it to me. It's who she is and I love it!

So, last week I was trying to come up with an idea for a simple little gift. I thought of one idea after another and quickly discarded each one. Finally, inspiration hit!

And that's how I ended up standing in the produce department of Safeway on Friday night holding up one apple after another and asking myself, "Is this apple pretty or not?" To be honest, I'd never really considered that question before. So it took some time, and I imagine that I got some funny looks from fellow shoppers, but finally I found three or four contenders! With a little creative packaging, I was ready to go.

Monday morning, I hurried into the office so I could place my little beauty on her desk before she arrived. And guess what! She loved it! A simple little apple (with a few tasty caramels!) brought her to tears, and me as well. I had so much fun finding the perfect gift for Rene, but in the process, she gave me a wonderful gift...a new appreciation for the simple things in life.





3 comments:

Elizabeth Joy said...

I want to eat that.

kate said...

Cute!! And what a great reminder!

Unknown said...

I was brought to tears laughing while I was reading about Rene's apple. I loved your story.