So my friend William Little came to the munch this past weekend. William travels down to our area from a state or two away, which is kind of a big deal. We first met because he listens to the Big Little Podcast. He started coming to the munch about 2 years ago, I think.
We've become very good friends.
This past weekend I invited him to spend time with my family after the munch, and to stay over. We had a really good time. He also brought me three really great birthday presents.
The first present was that he brought me more of his home made beer, which is labeled as DC Littles Munch Beer! Let me just say, that is some damn delicious beer. (It's even better now that it's aged some.)
The second present he brought me was this big red lovely box.
What was in it?
I'll show you.
It's a box of spoons!
If you're scratching your head, let me explain what that's all about. William has heard me talk often about Christine Miserandino's "Spoon Theory", which is how she deals with having an invisible illness. It's also a brilliant way to talk about having finite resources of time and energy. I've blogged about it before.
So William, knowing that I often spend many more spoons than I have on other people, and many projects that I do, gave me an abundance of spoons, so that I won't run out.
It's a hysterically funny and altogether lovely gift. I plan to add oddball spoons to it from all over when I travel.
The third gift that William brought me is more ineffable, and he doesn't even know he gave it to me. It's the gift of being appreciated.
In our various travels over the weekend, we made sure to spend quality time with one another. We talked at the munch some, and then as we drove in separate cars to catch up with my family to go see a movie, we talked on the phone to each other. This was both to make caravanning through traffic easier, and also just to get quality time between friends. As we drove, we talked philosophy, and life, and about goings-on in our own lives. It was perfectly lovely. So much so, that later that night, long after everyone else was in bed, we stayed up, sharing glasses of his excellent beer (from light-up glasses, the very best way for an age player to drink beer in my opinion), while we continued to talk.
William is a great friend. And he really appreciates me for the kind of person I work hard to be. That makes me very happy. He's fun to be around, an altogether good person, and he really appreciates even the smallest things. That's an amazing gift, and I'm very grateful for it.