This is an excerpt from a novel (based on real life) that I’m working on.

Gratitude and Receiving

I have a friend named Samantha.  She is the best gift-receiver I have ever known.  If you give her a gift, no matter what size, she is enthralled.  If you haven’t wrapped it (which I often don’t in my haste to give the item to the person I’ve bought it for), she insists on closing her eyes to explore it with her hands first.  She weighs it, she turns it round and round, she smells it.  She savors every moment of the act of receiving.  She is so enthusiastic at the joy of receiving the gift, that I admit to trying to find things to give her, just to watch her receive them.  When she finally opens her eyes and sees the gift, she bounces like a child at a candy store.  Her face lights up and she makes a noise or a movement that is associated with the gift.  I gave her a yoga ball once and she bounced up and down for days in appreciation of the gift.  Each time I saw her, at random moments she would bounce as though she were on the ball – once more expressing her gratitude and joy at the gift.  She is amazing to me.  Partly because she is so grateful – but partly because of the joy she takes in simple things.  Long after I have forgotten giving the gift, she is still receiving it.

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