The Thing He Doesn't Realize Is, The Real Gift Was What He Said

I came home in a slightly foul mood--more common than not, these days--and went up to use our bathroom. When I came out into the bedroom, there was Baroy, holding a wrapped box.

"What's this?" I said, puzzled.

"A gift. For you."

"But..."

He stopped me before I could start. "I was going to wait until my birthday [his 50th is in October] to give this to you, but you can use it now."

"But..."

"You'll understand when you open it, but I've been wanting to get this for you for a long time. You've worked so hard this year, and you deserve better than to always have hand-me-downs."

My mind was a blank, so I opened it. It was a new--and incredibly tiny--digital camera. (The one I've been using was one I bought for him for his birthday five years ago, hence the hand-me-down comment.)

There are many reasons for me to be over the moon about this, not the least of which is that I'm heading to New York next week to meet my brand-new nephew, and will want to take many photographs of him. (His parents--my stepsister and her husband--suck at sending photos.) And the other camera is a bit dated, technologically. Still, I was more touched by the mere fact of the present than by what it was.

"But why?"

"Because I wanted to," he said. "Because I wanted you to know that I've noticed how hard you've had to work this year, and I felt like you deserved to have that noticed."

He noticed. Hell, he not only noticed, but he parted with some portion of the money his mother is sending him for his birthday to show me that he noticed. That box could have been filled with rocks, and it still would have made me smile...

...though not quite as wide as my brand-spanking-new, totally awesome new camera did.