Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Bad Moods and Birthday Gifts

I was sitting in my kitchen, procrastinating cleaning up and unpacking the rest of my life from my suitcases and closets, and attempting to organize it into some semblance of togetherness, when the intercom rang. I was writing a blog post about how my whole apartment, and my whole life, is pretty much a mess right now. I wasnt in the greatest of moods.

I was reflecting on how I found a book of matches that our tenants left on the kitchen table when they vacated the apartment, from a restaurant called Boom that used to be called something else I cant remember (inconsequential, obviously), and incidentally was the location of my first job when I moved to NYC over 6 years ago. Talk about random and ironic. Back then, I used to make $3.50 an hour, plus tips (which there wasn't many of bc the restaurant was under new, very poor management). I hadnt yet managed to break into the fashion industry, tho I was trying oh-so-hard. Back then, every time I spoke to my parents on the phone, they would yell at me for putting up with such a crappy job that had me running around all day for nothing, bc they wanted something better and more comfortable for me.

But still, even sitting here thinking how funny it was that I had found this item that reminded me of the beginnings of my NYC adventure, and thinking about how far I had come in the years since, I wasnt in the greatest mood. The day had started out only OK, had dragged and slowly progressed to not great, at some point had become pretty miserable, and I was wallowing in self-pity. I do that sometimes.

And then the intercom rang.

Monet and I had both been waiting for the UPS man all day. At 845 pm, well past the hour we expected to get anything at all today, a very nice man in a very brown uniform bounded up the steps with a box in his hands.

I signed for it, practically skipped to my laptop, and Skyped the little brother.

"its here!!"

No answer, so I Skype-called him. He rejected the call. Oh how I hate being rejected.

"one sec, on the phone," came the typed reply.

Ugh I hate waiting... I managed to hold on for about 5 seconds, then:

"can I open it?? or do I have to wait so you can see?"

I already knew the answer, since he had been online all evening, asking me for UPS delivery updates, and making sure I had stayed home to receive the package he was tracking all the way from the other side of the world, so he could see me open it. Two minutes later, after no answer, I typed:

"can i open it???? pleeeease!"

And then finally, he finished his other call and then called me. And I got to open it. And it was beautiful. 2 small boxes inside the big one; one with diamond earrings, one with a matching diamond pendant. Things that, had I gone shopping myself, I probably would have overlooked bc oftentimes I shop narrow-mindedly. Sometimes you need other people's perspective to see things in a different light.

"Awww, I was gonna buy myself diamonds from St Thomas but ended up not getting anything bc I was broke," I said.*

"I know. I remember you told me that. Thats why I got them."

Sweetest. Brother. Ever.

I put them on, showed them off, thanked him for a beautiful birthday gift.

I decided to go try them on with something that matched diamonds a little better than an army green t-shirt and boyfriend jeans. I put on a black dress n put my hair up... and they looked gorgeous.

The gift in and of itself was beautiful, but more importantly, it was thoughtful. Amazing how your whole mood can change from one small thing.

*St Thomas is known for its jewelry industry and tax-free shopping.

4 comments:

Lori Lavender Luz said...

What an amazingly generous brother. So glad his thoughtfulness brightened your day when you most needed it.

Pics please!

Ziggy said...

Isnt he?? Heart him :)

Thx for reading and for the regular comments, you rock :)

J.Q said...

Howz about a pic with the earrings on???

Ziggy said...

JQ, Im dying to know who you are :)