happy gifts

he's the old guy, right?
the crusty one with the sailor mouth who
reads shakespeare over the phone to me...

the one who spent most of his life at sea...
and never knew much love....

so i sent him a book on oceans.
with photos of the waves and the sea......
big ol' book full of pictures.
figured there'd be something in there that would
spark fond memories.

i had no idea.
none.

i got a message on my answering machine yesterday.....
he got the book.

i don't know if it's his cleveland accent, or
the way he said it over and over and over again...

but he kept saying the book was 'beautiful.'
i grinned every time i heard him say that word.
he put his whole darn soul into it. i felt like
he was bending into the word....

i called him back.
he said it again.
i smiled wide.

he said pictures in there brought tears to his
eyes and 'he wasn't an emotional guy.'

i was so pleased.
so tickled.

i saved the recording. i want to keep it.

it's fun to do things for other people, but when
you know you hit some spot inside that makes them
bend into the words to describe it...
ohhhhhhh man.
that is beyond fun.
THAT is the gift of the whole deal.
not any ol' book.

i keep thinking of that as i wrap up his shakespeare
sonnet book to mail his way.

got us both the same book of sonnets.
i thought it'd be fun to read them back and forth
to each other.

i gotta tell ya, i never read shakespeare out loud
before! how fun will this be?!

this man has no idea how much happiness he's
put into my life......

grinnin' like a kid just thinking of it all......