Day 213: Unexpected Gifts
Posted by Kelli Joan Bennett
Day 213. Uh-mazing Romantic Partner stands in my office door. He holds a package in one hand and his other hand is on his hip. Full scowl. “What?” I ask. “This package is from Amazon,” he says like an accusation. I momentarily freeze. Did I order something else from Amazon? I think. Finally, “no, that’s impossible, I didn’t order anything else!” I don’t think. A little backstory for my new readers: I’m a total book whore. I LOVE books. I love buying them, having them, looking at them, reading them. But at the end of last year, when I decided to put everything into my new venture, I realized, I needed to stop spending hundreds of dollars a month on books. Even though being addicted to books isn’t the worst addiction I could have, I banned myself from ordering anything on Amazon so I could put all my money into my projects. Amazon is a gateway drug for me. Even if I can get really cheap supplements on there, I’ll sneak in like 100 bucks worth of books—every time. Gateway, people, gateway! So, I got a library card instead. Have I checked out one book yet? No! Did I break my ban? Yes! But only once. I had a relapse and ordered three books on Day 187, two of which I couldn’t get at the library. There was no excuse for the third.
Where did The Tools come from?
“I swear, I have not been on Amazon since my relapse,” I defend. Totally skeptical, Uh-mazing Romantic Partner hands me the package. I continue to scan my brain as I take the package from him. Did I relapse so badly I blacked out and don’t remember ordering a new book? I don’t think so but it’s addressed to me. It seems I have no idea what this package is doing coming to me from Amazon. Uh-mazing Romantic Partner shakes his head. “Once an addict always an addict” is the thought bubble that appears outside his head. I open the package. It’s the book, The Tools by Phil Stutz & Barry Michels. I’m lost. “I have no idea where this book came from!” It takes me about a minute and then it hits me. “Shawna,” I scream. “Shawna Casey bought me this book!” Now I remember. Shawna is a ridiculously talented actress I was in acting class with, gosh, I think about 15 years ago. Is that possible? Well, anyway, she is also an amazing writer. She recently graduated with an MFA in playwriting. She let me read the first 11 pages of her two-act play. By the way, it is sooooooooo good. Well, I’d emailed her to tell her as much and we later ended up having a phone call. I congratulated her profusely on her newly minted MFA and somehow the conversation got around to these two authors she’d seen on Charlie Rose. They’d written this book called “The Tools” and she really liked the sound of it. I told her I’d go get it. For some reason, she said she wanted to buy it for me. I told her she didn’t need to do any such thing. Obviously, upon receiving the book, she didn’t listen to me.
Some might say she has enabled me, that she’s fed my addiction but come on, it’s books not heroin! My friend is such a love and has given me such an unexpected gift—such a treat! This reminds me that abundance in some form is always on the way to us, whether we realize it or not. And, I’m also reminded that I’m so fortunate to have such generous friends.
Until tomorrow, create from what you have…unexpected gifts and generous friends.
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