My Crazy Aunt Got Me What?!
Think back to every birthday you had with your family, who was the family member that was always the most out of touch with gifts? For me, it was my crazy aunt Debbie. Gift giving is an artform, you take what you know about someone and you fit them with an item that not only expresses your relationship with that person but also fits in your budget and makes sense as a gift.
Some people believe that expensive gifts are the way to go, thinking that if you buy someone something expensive they will treasure it and think of you as very generous. I disagree with this sentiment, however. Some of the best gifts I have ever received were not only cheap, but sometimes actually free. What I treasure in a gift is the thought that went behind it. If I can tell that you truly considered my tastes and my personality and didn’t just buy something random, I’m pleased.
One year, not too long ago, but long enough that I still celebrated my birthday with a big family gathering, my aunt Debbie shows up beaming. She had a long history of getting me things that never quite made sense. It wasn’t that she was a bad person, or that I didn’t like her. On the contrary, I thought she was cooky but really fun. Her gifts were always at this very weird but perfect intersection of thoughtful but useless.
For example…
The year I took AP US History in high school, she bought me an American flag scarf. I appreciate the effort of knowing that I had immersed myself in American history for the year, but why a scarf? An earlier birthday, shortly after I had started riding a bike, she bought me a Harley Davidson model kit. Again, there is certainly effort there, and I see the bike connection, but I was 10, and there was no way I was going to go buy all the paints and tools required to actually construct this motorcycle, so I’m just not sure what the idea was.
Things really took a bit of a crazy turn when one year she showed up really excited and handed me a small box. She told me that I would be really excited about this gift. When I finally had a chance to open it, you’d never believe what it was…
It was a WiFi hotspot of a brand I’d never heard with no instructions. I asked her for more information about it and she excitedly told me that her work at one point had spent a lot of money on these hotspots and that they had recently decommissioned them and she requested to keep one. This one. The one she gave me. She knew that I had recently just started school again and thought it would be amazing to get the internet anywhere I was. I thanked her and she felt special.
Of course, as you may have guessed, she had no idea that in order to use a WiFi hotspot you need a place, in fact most of them are sold with one like this, but this one was just a hotspot… untethered to anything… no plan… just a cold and dead device.
I appreciate the effort aunt Debbie, I think it’s a sweet idea, but what you really got me was a paperweight, and I’ve used it as such ever since. In fact I’ve moved a few times and brought it with me every time… only because it’s such a silly story.
