#2,462 Little Gifts.

There were little gifts sprinkled along the way everywhere we turned today. I woke up with some out of control allergies that felt almost like another head cold this morning, but found a single Aleve Cold and Sinus tablet hidden in a pocket in my purse. 20 minutes later and almost in Pontotoc on our way back home, I was feeling brand new.

When we got home, I did laundry and finished the last 2 house portraits of season 1 and soon Ben surprised me with a little gift: an envelope with a drawing of my Jeep and inside, a leather AMC Jeep keyring just like my car would’ve come with brand new off the lot, and (in the background there on the piano), a gift set of the perfume I wore when we met, Gap Simply White, that makes me feel like I could cry from tenderhearted lovesickness when I smell it.

screen-shot-2016-09-18-at-8-58-59-pm

Later, my parents returned home from a weekend at the beach…

screen-shot-2016-09-18-at-9-17-13-pm

And we took all of daddy’s favorite Chinese takeout from Panda to their house for a surprise birthday dinner along with a 2017 Farmer’s Almanac and a cheesecake from Junior’s. He’s a simple man of simple pleasures who turned 63 today and I knew those two tiny gifts would put a smile on his face more than an expensive gift would have.

When I was doing the laundry this afternoon, I threw in my tattered old baby blanket and it came out with the satin binding all unattached and twisted around dress shirts and blue jeans. It’s no longer a sentimental attachment I have to this square of acrylic fuzz and satin, but an ergonomic one. I tuck it under my left arm when I go to sleep and without it, I feel off balance and uncomfortable the way some folks might feel without their prized body pillow or whatever. I brought it along to my parents to see if my mom could just sew it back on however possible, nothing pretty, just attached. And 10 minutes later, I got another tiny gift in my put-together old blanket.

screen-shot-2016-09-18-at-8-59-48-pm

And finally we dropped by Jim and Mal’s because Lucy has learned to say the Pledge of Allegiance and we wanted to hear it. While we were there, Mallorie presented her with the little Elvis charm necklace she found when we were shooting at a flea market on Friday. Because they’ve got this parenting thing on LOCK, Lucy grew up recognizing Elvis’s voice before she was 1 year old. She loves him tender, loves him true. And when she saw this tiny little gift, she screamed in delight and gasped and held her hands over her mouth: “EHLVISSSSS!!!” Then kissed him for good measure.

screen-shot-2016-09-18-at-9-00-03-pm

I think Lucy wins the tiny gift championship.