The best gift is the surprise gift. Not the kind of surprise
that jumps out of dark closets and clobbers you with balloons being held by the
loudest versions of your closest friends though. The most wonderful and gentle
kind of surprise comes bearing gifts you didn’t know you wanted. 

In the past week, I finished my last day of my job, flew
myself South to help my grandma move, and entered into the chaos of her world.
Her world is filled with slowly unpacking and moving and removing and arranging
and rearranging all of the items she’s held onto for her 79 years of life.
My effort to bring order to the chaos of vases, notepads,
cooking utensils, and Christmas decorations fell into the sea of unpacked
Rubbermaid tubs forming bulky islands across my grandma’s living room
floor.  I was starting to feel bad for
the kitchen counter, which had been suffocating under clutter for at least a
week.
So after helping move, I left grandma to visit a friend and
mentor—and meet with her team at work. My full day of meeting new people,
sharing ideas, and being ‘on’ left me wondering how much more energy I could
muster.  But after dinner, we arrived at
my friend’s home and I experienced two surprising gifts—giving me new found
mojo. 
The first.  Oh. My.
Gosh. It was organized. Things were in place. 
It was as if Christmas had just visited and only left it’s glowy lights
in every corner giving off warmth.  The
counter was clear.  The bathroom was
mine.  And I didn’t have to push anything
out of the way to make space for me. 
Everything was thoughtfully placed and exactly where it needed to
be.  Realizing how much I like my world
somewhat orderly, the gift of perfectly lit organized space slowed me down in
all the ways I needed to be slowed down.   
The second gift came in the form of words. This friend has
known me since the 10th grade. 
She was the first one to claim leadership as something I did and
had.  She spent years teaching me and
giving me a solid leadership foundation. 
After meeting with her team and leading through some communication
issues they had been experiencing, she said the simple but powerful words: I am proud of you.
I was good.  In 2
brief unexpected moments I had intentional order to my world and the loving
encouragement of someone who spent years building into me. My shoulders
unscrunched and I could now rest my weary head. 
Here’s to you finding a surprise gift today.
Love, Hanna