This is a meditation from the "Challenges" section, but happens so often I could have placed it in with other milestones. You can't take it personally.
Giving Gifts Away He gave away the gift I gave him. I suddenly realized I hadn't seen it for a while. When I asked him, it wasn't even a big deal to him. "Oh, I gave it to a friend of mine." That's all. No apology. No sense that one is even due. Was he being generous? Was he trying to buy a friendship? Or did he just not care. Never mind that I wanted him to have it. Never mind the money I saved up to give it to him. I don't know whether I am more mad or more hurt. I try to honor his generosity. But I can't. It hurts that a gift from me is only a possession to him, no emotional value or attachment. It is such a reversal from the collection of gifts I treasure only for who they are from, not for its intrinsic monetary value. Let him grow to value me, to value our connection. Help me to value our connection more than any gift's value.
Excerpted from "The Caring Heart Speaks: Meditations for foster, kinship, and adoptive parents" by Gail Underwood Parker Artwork by Anna Parker David from the book cover.
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