Our group of friends– the Compound, and the extended family which includes the girls up Hawthorne way and a few other people– decided to arrange a holiday gift exchange this year. Since we weren’t going to have time to do it during the actual Preordained Gift-Giving Season, we scheduled a party for January 20– we were going to celebrate the inauguration anyway, so why not have our gift exchange as well? In the spirit of that, we named our exchange “Secret Obama”. Some of us (well, mostly me, and Andy) spent the day watching the inauguration and related coverage; people started showing up in the evening for drinks and the actual exchange.
Nineteen people participated in the Secret Obama exchange. And I really couldn’t be happier with how it turned out. Everyone put sincere thought into their gifts; everyone did their best to get something the other person would really appreciate. It’s a group of people that really loves and cares about each other. I’m lucky to have this group of people in my life.
There’s something intangible about the love we spread, something you can’t capture in words. But it’s something you can see at those right moments. I’m glad I got to see everyone open their gifts, because there . When people see the time and thought someone put into them, just to give, just because they care, it shows, and it’s magical. I don’t know if we’ll ever get to do this again. I don’t know if the group of people will be the same; if I’ll ever find more people like this. But I know we did, for one day, and I’m glad we did.
Love’s a simple thing, but all too easily taken for granted, and all too rare. And I feel like it’s something we may understand, even say, but don’t get to show and express to each other enough. Don’t get to spend enough time with each other. I value and cherish every moment I have with the people I love and I wouldn’t trade them for anything.
