My best friend from childhood recently got married and had a daughter. Of course, our group of friends organized a gift. But since he and I used to be so close and, on the rare occasions we now see each other, still are, I thought I’d send them something as well.
After noodling on it for a while, I decided to send them gifts for themselves. As in, “This is for you—because even as a partner in a marriage and a parent, you are still your own person. It will be easy to forget in the coming years. So here’s a small reminder.” Then, the process really began.
I had to ask another friend for help with the wife’s gift. She loves arts and crafts and runs a small online store on the side, so I ordered some material for her to work with. My friend recently got into Pokémon cards again, just like me, so I organized a special, graded card of his favorite Pokémon and a collector’s box. Now, I still need to wrap everything, put it into one box, and write the card. And send it out, of course.
I hope they’ll enjoy the box when they receive it. In the end, it’ll be a small gesture in the grand scheme of things. But even small gestures can take significant amounts of time—and that’s often the part that makes them not-so-small at all.
Writing a birthday card, selecting a gift, cooking a meal—most of us would file all of these under “tiny favors,” yet it is in these little interactions that we can most easily show how much we truly care. And we do. And others see it. And that’s why, in the end, it’s small gestures that make the world go ’round.
