Throwback Thursday #6 – Gift Giving & Receiving

Welcome to the sixth edition of the Throwback Thursday Memory BlogHop where we take on a nostalgic object, event, or memory and blog about it. It’s the last Thursday of September. Hopefully we will be having cooler days, which in my book means more inside time and more time to blog. Maggie, From Cave Walls, and I alternate posting a blog with the title Throwback Thursday – subject of the week. (This week my subject is memories of gift giving or receiving.)

You can share a story or poem about yourself, your family, or your friends. Feel free to use the photo above in your post and tag it with #TBTMemory or #IRememberWhen to make it easier for others to find.  After you’ve written your reply post, please link it here to this week’s prompt page and check to make sure it’s here.  You can also add your thoughts to the comments below if that works best to you.

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When Maggie and I were talking about my topic this week, we both realized there were a multitude of ways to go with the prompt. Personally, I have been given some silly gifts, some inappropriate gifts, some wonderful gifts, and of course sentimental gifts. If I add in all the presents I have given, the list of options to write about gets even longer.

What about you? What memories do you hold in relation to gifts? Was there some gift so wonderful that you will never forget it? Do you still remember a gift from a beau? Do you put such great thought into the gifts you give, that you hold those memories close to your heart? What about silly gifts you’ve been given or gifted?

Today I ask you to reach back into your memory bank and tell us about a gift you received or gave.

My response follows:
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My head is working on a stream of consciousness for my prompt today. Do I write about the cocktail dress I was gifted as a preteen? Do I write about the books I was given each year by an aunt I never knew? Do I write about the birthday gift my cousin gave me this year that meant so much to me?
Or do I write about the gifts I have given to others? Do I write about the gifts to family members that were mostly gifts of my time and love? Do I write about gag gifts gone awry? The choices are varied. It’s time to commit to one gift giving experience.

Two years ago, I went to a women’s retreat. It was my first time to ever do such a thing. I have blogged about it here, here, and here. It was fun rereading the thoughts I was dealing with at the time.

Going to my first retreat was a gift in itself. It was a wonderful life fulfilling experience.  But there is another part of this story I have not told. I knew I would be meeting perfect strangers at the retreat. I would also be meeting Maggie and Kim for the first time in person. To say I was excited, would be a great understatement. I hoped to make a small gift for each of the participants.

Kim, my wonderful coach and friend, used lemons as an object in her blogs. She often spoke about turning lemons into lemonade. It gave me an idea. I searched multiple fabric stores for lemon fabrics. I couldn’t find anything at all. Finally, I resorted to looking online. Fabrics.com had multiple lemon related fabrics. I was thrilled to buy a few yards of everything they had. I wasn’t settled on exactly what I was going to make, but I knew I needed  that fabric. The materials eventually arrived and as soon as I washed and dried everything on hot, I saw how different the fabrics laid. This meant I had to put fabrics together that were similar.

I wanted to gift each of the ladies something to remember the retreat. I searched online and found a video for making rice bags. (I looked for the link just now but couldn’t find it.} Rice bags for heating made perfect sense to me. They were not too difficult to make. They were made with my theme fabric. And they were something everyone could use. My finished products were not perfect by any means, but they were made lovingly by me for my new friends. After making them for each of the retreat ladies, I mailed them off priority mail to Kim. I used a game box, that didn’t matter about the weight. I knew I didn’t want all that weight in my carry-on luggage. I also sent off yellow composition books I found on sale as well as small lemon chalkboards. (I believe those went by the wayside. LOL)

As the retreat was ending, I gave each of the ladies the rice bags. Here comes the crazy part.

Maggie was the first to leave. When she got to the airport she was taken out of line and had to have her luggage searched. It seemed the TSA agents were concerned about a heavy object in her suitcase. The airport agents were suspicious of her. Imagine that, dear sweet Maggie was thought to be carry an illegal substance. What was it they were concerned about? My rice bag set off their “alarms.” Maggie messaged back to all the retreat members to tell of her misadventure.

The next guest that arrived at her airport screening had the same thing happen to her. And so did the next, and the next after her. It seems my gift had the impact of getting everyone pulled out of line and being suspiciously examined by TSA. One of the ladies was driving and not flying. She messaged all of us happily that she would not have to go through that drama. I believe it was the last woman who knowing what had occurred, took her rice bag out of her luggage, and placed it in the bin so she didn’t need an extra screening.

I was so sorry and embarrassed for the drama I had caused all these ladies. It never occurred to me that my gift would be a problem. I hope they all had a good laugh about it after it was all over.

I still make rice bags. I still gift them. I still enjoy finding fabrics that fit the receiving person. The moral to my gift giving of rice bags is never give one to someone who must travel by plane.

 

 

 

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