Posts Tagged → wind chime
The Wind Chime My Daddy Got For Me
My father liked to give my mother, my sister, and me Christmas gifts that were the same. I don’t know whether he was trying to be fair, avoid jealousy and envy, or whether he was just making giftgiving simple for himself. I know that when he liked an item, he would get more than one and bestow them on us. One year it was baby doll pajamas, the next year the three of us got hair dryers, and the year after that we were surprised to receive matching Pekinese puppies. The triple ditto present event was only at Christmas time; on the most profound level maybe he was hoping to demonstrate how Jesus loves us all equally. Daddy excelled at picking unique items for birthdays; nobody ever got the same sort of thing that the other got for her birthday. He had a notebook and kept track so there wouldn’t be duplication—except for Christmas presents, which were always identical.
I still have the tuned wind chimes he gave me for my 21st birthday; my mother has the green jumpsuit he gave her when she turned 40; my sister uses the rice cooker Daddy gave her twenty years ago when she turned 12. I seem to be the only one who notices that the matching presents change over the years after we have owned them for awhile. Items that were identical on the Christmas day Dad gave them to us tend to look different after each one of us has used them for awhile. Nobody mistakes Mama’s afghan for Sue’s; Sue wouldn’t pick up my afghan thinking it was hers. Even objects take on personalities with use. I thought Daddy was smart to give us all the same things once a year and unique gifts, too. They all said the same thing in the end. And I am very happy he decided to give me the wind chime. He loved us.
