The Great Giver

I am what you would call a great giver! I say this in the most sarcastic way possible because I am atrocious at giving. More specifically, thinking of and giving gifts to others. This true story, being a relatively recent occurrence, happened on the 17th of September, 2023, my mother’s birthday. Yeah, you can see where this is heading. But let me first give a little background about my mother. My mom’s name is Erica, and this past September was her forty-second birthday. She works from home and because of this I see her very often and I’m home with her most of the week. Because of her job, she’s had lots of flexibility. Flexibility to attend all my school activities, including band in middle school, FBLA events, and all of my three sports (soccer, basketball, and baseball) that occupy most of my afterschool evenings. Seeing her at my school on the sidelines and benches makes me so happy! She’s such a supportive mother and an essential part of my life in everything that I do. She’s a tough mother, having fought off breast cancer in 2018. During that time, I found myself truly saved, having accepted God as my savior and following Him in my heart. I owe all this to my mother who has had a large role in my spiritual life, having been raised in a house with a mother devoted and living for God. She inspired me to grow my faith every day. I could go on and on, but my main point is that she has done so much for me and I’m beyond thankful and blessed to have a mother like her.

Starting in September this year, I started to think about gifts. What started as some great ideas, turned into procrastination later on. I had two weeks to get a card and a gift for my mother. So I continued to live my life, go to school, do my homework, play sports, and see my girlfriend. Soon enough it was September, 16, my mother’s birthday. I had one flash of a thought about my mother’s birthday the following day. Then it comes. The 17th. This is where it gets terrible, at least in my mind. I woke up that Sunday morning, not even aware. Not a thought passed my mind. I gave my mother my normal good morning hug, ate some breakfast, and cleaned myself up in the shower. This is when it clicked. My grandparents, who live in an apartment above our garage, came down from the stairwell into the kitchen and started to sing Happy Birthday. I saw a gift in my grandfather’s hand … and that’s when I realized.
I had forgotten.

I sat at the kitchen counter in silence. The amount of guilt that penetrated my thoughts was abnormal. For a moment, my ears set up a barricade from letting any sound inside. A quarantine happened inside my head. I could only hear my thoughts. While my grandparents happily sang, I went through all the scenarios. How would my mother react? Do you think she’ll cry because I forgot? What’s my dad going to think when he hears? How am I going to apologize? How many people are going to find out? How did I forget? I don’t even have a card! OR A GIFT! It went on and on. Soon I spawned back into reality, having to smile back at my grandparents who had said good morning to me. I covered up my inner guilt for the moment so my grandparents wouldn’t know what I had forgotten. After their time chatting, they receded to their apartment. The silence grew stronger and the awkwardness in the air revealed itself. I could feel my mom’s attitude. She has a sly way of being annoyed that she wouldn’t show. But being her son I knew. I had to approach softly, I went for a hug. Head over her shoulder I apologized and wished her a happy birthday. Although I apologized, it was too late. With my grandparents coming down it was clear that I only remembered because of their singing and gift. My mom said sorry but you could feel it in her voice that she was disappointed. I had to get her a gift though. So I resorted last minute to my detailing business called L+L Mobile Detailing. Having messed up so badly, I made her a homemade coupon for a fifty percent discount. So yeah, I got her something, but I put no thought into it. I’m so disappointed in myself. This mistake hurts me to this day. Now when I do put the effort in the get gifts for others she’ll still bring it up sometimes. She’ll remind me of my mistake, which hurts but is well deserved.

This mistake has made me think a lot about the situation and what I’ll do in the future to prevent this from happening. I’ve learned that gifts and the thought of a gift have to be done way further in advance. And that means buying them far in advance too. I know I struggle with finding gifts for people too. I never know what people want, and my mind goes blank when thinking of ideas. My strategy going forward is to ask them what they want instead of trying to surprise them with something I can’t even think of. My dad especially, because he can be very hard to shop for. I’m gonna do better from now on. I mean I’m already looking and thinking of gifts for Christmas! Adding all the ideas into my shopping cart. My mom deserves better, and she’ll get nothing but better gifts from me from now on.

“Gift Box” by FutUndBeidl is licensed under CC BY 2.0.