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Author Topic: "SIMPLE WHITE ENVELOPE"  (Read 3009 times)

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Offline Life

  • Member
  • Posts: 2,389
  • Member 2005
"SIMPLE WHITE ENVELOPE"
« on: December 09, 2006, 02:58:28 pm »
From "Blue" to You...


 It's just a small white envelope stuck among the branches of our
Christmas tree. No name, no identification, no inscription. It has peeked through the  branches of our tree for the past 10 years or so.

 It all began because my husband Mike hated Christmas -- oh, not the true  meaning of Christmas, but the commercial aspects of it
-- the overspending,  the frantic running around at the last
minute to get a tie for Uncle Harry  and the dusting powder for
Grandma -- the gifts given in desperation  because you couldn't
think of anything else.

 Knowing he felt this way, I decided one year to bypass the usual
shirts,  sweaters, ties, and so forth. I reached for something
special just for  Mike. The inspiration came in an unusual way.
Our son Kevin, who was 12  that year, was wrestling at the junior level at the school he attended.
 Shortly before Christmas, there was a non-league match against a team  sponsored by an inner-city church.

 These youngsters, dressed in sneakers so ragged that shoestrings
seemed to be the only thing holding them together, presented a sharp
contrast to our  boys in their spiffy blue and gold uniforms and
sparkling new wrestling  shoes. As the match began, I was alarmed to see that the other team was  wrestling without headgear, a kind of light helmet designed to protect a  wrestler's ears. It was a luxury the ragtag team obviously could not  afford.
 Well, we ended up walloping them. We took every weight class.
And as each of their boys got up from the mat, he swaggered around in his tatters with false bravado, a kind of street pride that couldn't acknowledge defeat.
Mike, seated beside me, shook his head sadly, "I wish just one of them  could have won," he said. "They have a lot of potential, but losing like  this could take the heart right out of them." Mike
loved kids-- all kids-- and he knew them, having coached little league football,
baseball, and  lacrosse.
That's when the idea for his present came. That afternoon, I
went to a local sporting goods store and bought an assortment of wrestling headgear  and shoes and sent them anonymously to the inner-city church.
On Christmas Eve, I placed the envelope on the tree, the note inside telling Mike what I  had done and that this was his gift from me. His smile was the brightest  thing about Christmas that year and in
succeeding years. For each  Christmas, I followed the tradition --
one year sending a group of mentally  handicapped youngsters to a hockey game,another year a check to a pair of
elderly brothers whose home had burned to the ground the week
before  Christmas, and on and on. The envelope became the
highlight of our  Christmas. It was always the last thing opened
on Christmas morning, and  our children, ignoring their new toys,
would stand with wide-eyed  anticipation as their dad lifted the envelope from the tree to reveal its  contents.

As the children grew, the toys gave way to more practical presents,
but the envelope never lost its allure. The story doesn't end there. 

You see,  we lost Mike last year due to cancer. When Christmas
rolled around, I was  still so wrapped in grief that I barely got
the tree up. But Christmas Eve  found me placing an envelope on
the tree, and in the morning it was joined  by three more. Each of
our children, unbeknownst to the others, had placed  an envelope
on the tree for their dad. The tradition has grown and someday 
will expand even further with our grandchildren standing around the tree with wide-eyed anticipation watching as their fathers take down
the  envelope.

 Mike's spirit, like the Christmas spirit, will always be with us.
May we  all remember Christ, who is the reason for the season, and the true  Christmas spirit this year and always.

God Bless!

Blessed are the cracked, for it is they who let in the light.

Offline thunter34

  • Member
  • Posts: 7,374
  • His name is Carl.
Re: "SIMPLE WHITE ENVELOPE"
« Reply #1 on: December 10, 2006, 01:47:58 pm »
Now, THAT is Christmas!  Eric, you may have just caused my heart to grow 3 sizes this day!

~+

[attachment deleted by admin]
AIDS isn't for sissies.

Offline Javicho

  • Member
  • Posts: 268
Re: "SIMPLE WHITE ENVELOPE"
« Reply #2 on: December 10, 2006, 02:01:46 pm »
Eric, that was the most beautiful think that I ever heard :'( thank you, God Bless you and your children as well

Offline Longislander

  • Member
  • Posts: 2,489
Re: "SIMPLE WHITE ENVELOPE"
« Reply #3 on: December 10, 2006, 02:12:12 pm »
was a beautiful story Eric.

( I have to admit, when I first started reading I thought, 'hey, his husbands name isn't Mike! ") ;)
infected 10/05 diagnosed 12-05
2/06   379/57000                    6/07 372/30500 25%   4/09 640/U/32% 
5/06   ?? /37000                     8/07 491/55000/24%    9/09 913/U/39%
8/06   349/9500 25%              11/07 515/68000/24     2/10 845/U/38%
9/06   507/16,000 30% !          2/08  516/116k/22%    7/10 906/80/39%
12/06 398/29000 26%             Start Atripla 3/08
3/07   402/80,000 29%            4/08  485/undet!/27
4/07   507/35,000 25%            7/08 625/UD/34%
                                                 11/08 684/U/36%

Offline Cherie

  • Member
  • Posts: 44
Re: "SIMPLE WHITE ENVELOPE"
« Reply #4 on: December 10, 2006, 03:44:58 pm »
Eric,

Thanks for posting it and you beat me to it.Blue sent it to me too and l was thinking got to post it.

Merry Christmas to you and Will.

Cherie

"An adventure may be worn as a muddy spot or it may be worn as a proud insignia.It is the woman wearing it who  makes it one thing or the other."

Offline Longislander

  • Member
  • Posts: 2,489
Re: "SIMPLE WHITE ENVELOPE"
« Reply #5 on: December 10, 2006, 03:55:22 pm »
ok, now I get it. Still beautiful.
infected 10/05 diagnosed 12-05
2/06   379/57000                    6/07 372/30500 25%   4/09 640/U/32% 
5/06   ?? /37000                     8/07 491/55000/24%    9/09 913/U/39%
8/06   349/9500 25%              11/07 515/68000/24     2/10 845/U/38%
9/06   507/16,000 30% !          2/08  516/116k/22%    7/10 906/80/39%
12/06 398/29000 26%             Start Atripla 3/08
3/07   402/80,000 29%            4/08  485/undet!/27
4/07   507/35,000 25%            7/08 625/UD/34%
                                                 11/08 684/U/36%

Offline Eldon

  • Member
  • Posts: 2,664
Re: "SIMPLE WHITE ENVELOPE"
« Reply #6 on: December 10, 2006, 08:50:40 pm »
Hey Eric...

Thank you for sharing this with us!


Happy Holidays!

 


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