Noun: gift; plural noun: gifts

 

A thing given willingly to someone without payment; a present.

 

It is at times like this in your life when you will be astounded by the thoughtfulness and generosity of people, some of whom you barely know and would least expect it from.

 

I didn’t make an announcement on Facebook or down the pub, or stand in the middle of Tesco and say “I’VE GOT THE CANCER”, but the news seemed to spread organically.   And over the course of the first few weeks and months, little gifts started to arrive for me.  Sometimes I’d get home to flowers on the doorstep or a card being pushed through the letterbox.  A bottle of gin and a punnet of strawberries was left for me on one occasion (oh how well some people know me!)

 

I got sent a grown up colouring book of swearwords and a box of colouring pencils.  A mini beanbag to rest my kindle on, a mastectomy cushion, subscription to The Lonely Planet magazine, flowers from colleagues, vouchers for a night away…  It wasn’t so much the gifts themselves that overwhelmed me, but the kindness and thoughtfulness of people around me.  It made me realize just how thoughtless I am as I would never have thought to do any of these things! 

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Sometimes when bad shit happens, it makes you realize just how good the good things are.