I spent my birthday in San Francisco last weekend attending a couple of social activities and two book signing events for my latest book, The Ambassador of 38th Avenue. So yesterday, Kathy and I met up with our three boys and their families for a belated birthday lunch at The Garret Station in Los Gatos. We had originally planned on having a barbecue at our home, but the hot weather convinced us that it would be best to move the celebration to an air conditioned venue. It was a good call.
Finding the perfect birthday gift for an older person can be a challenge. What do you get for someone who has everything he needs and is in want of nothing more? Well, the most obvious answer is to simply not get a gift. That’s what I was hoping for, and, for the most part, that’s how it was this year. I did, however, receive three gifts.
The first gift was a container of chocolate-coated almonds from Brendan. He knows my weaknesses, and chocolate-coated almonds are one of them.
The second gift I received was a beautiful, hand-painted wind-chime from my granddaughter, Penny, who will turn two later this month. I hung it on the wall in my home office. I’m guessing that Penny had a little help with this from Mom and Dad.
The third gift was given to me by my granddaughter, Emily (age 5). We were sitting at the table in The Garret Station when she pulled a little coin purse from her pink backpack. She carefully unzipped the coin purse and pulled out a folded one dollar bill. Without saying a word, she handed it to me.
“What’s this?” I asked.
“It’s a dollar,” Emily replied.
“Yes, but why are you giving it to me?”
“It’s your birthday gift, Papa!” she responded.
My heart melted.
