TheBanyanTree: A Present from Grandma

[Monique Colver]

Tomorrow is my charming husband's birthday, and with it shall be all the
pomp and circumstance befitting a man of his station. No cake, of course,
since he's diabetic, and I'm apparently have a blood sugar issue too (and a
Vitamin D deficiency!), but he has asked for a sugar free apple pie and I
know a place that has really good ones. His parents usually don't think
about it much -- his mother's is the day before and I don't think she's ever
forgiven him for ruining her birthday that one year. He'll call her tonight
to tell her happy birthday, and then she'll likely respond in kind.

But Grandma! Grandma remembers these things. (By Grandma I mean his grandma,
of course, since mine are no longer in a present giving frame of mind.) She
likes to send miscellaneous items that she finds around the house, and
occasionally she'll send him a jacket or a shirt that actually turns out to
be rather nice. We never know if a package is going to contain an
interesting piece of memorabilia she found around the house or something
really useful. A couple of months ago she sent a huge page out of an album,
with old pictures still attached. I'm still not sure what to do with it. For
our wedding she gave us an elderly vase she'd had hanging around the house,
but it's an interesting vase, and that's all that really matters to me.

So a box came today, smallish. Unexpected, as these things are. Andrew
opened it, and I said, "aha! A mug!" He unwrapped the tissue paper around it
and there it was, a Batman Forever glass mug from McDonald's, circa 1995.

Now, we don't expect Grandma's presents to make much sense. That's part of
the fun. Each time something shows up we're not sure what to expect. But
this! A 1995 Batman Forever promotional item from McDonald's! Has she been
holding on to it since 1995, waiting for that perfect occasion? Did she find
it at a garage sale? Was she going through her cupboards? And in the card
she sent along were also raffle tickets.Raffle tickets! So there may be more
to the present, should any of the tickets be a winner. I think they're for a
painting or something.

But the Batman Forever commemorative glass mug is something I will always
treasure. I think the value is about $2.50, but it's the thought that
counts.

I'm not sure what the thought was, but I am totally in love with this
present anyway. It's just so . . . Grandma!



-- 
Monique Colver