The Gift

[AuroraAngel]

What was the greatest gift you were ever given? Why?
(The gift can be from any occasion and if you have more than one gift memory to share, please do!)

 

[stevent222]

AuroraAngel where do I start? Frist of all I was given the gift of life from my loving Mother & Father.

From then on there the gift of polio to make me a better person and see the world in a different why as many haven't.

The gift of a good education and the marriage of my frist wife then later mine and her's our first baby girl child.

The gift of real soul crushing pain that comes with the lost of lossing both wife and child in a bad car mishap that Jesus whated them both.

Then later the gift of my second wife and our three beautiful son's and daughter now all living their lives together with their spouces.

The gift of my thrid wife and another soul crushing pain of lossing her too.

Now I still have the gift of waking up everyday with the love of my life now my M.K. (stands for My Kitty) with me.

I really have no outside friends so I have the gift of all my friends here for the last 11+ years on Jokeroo.​

 

[AuroraAngel]

[QUOTE="stevent222, post: 5071249]

AuroraAngel where do I start? Frist of all I was given the gift of life from my loving Mother & Father.

From then on there the gift of polio to make me a better person and see the world in a different why as many haven't.

The gift of a good education and the marriage of my frist wife then later mine and her's our first baby girl child.

The gift of real soul crushing pain that comes with the lost of lossing both wife and child in a bad car mishap that Jesus whated them both.

Then later the gift of my second wife and our three beautiful son's and daughter now all living their lives together with their spouces.

The gift of my thrid wife and another soul crushing pain of lossing her too.

Now I still have the gift of waking up everyday with the love of my life now my M.K. (stands for My Kitty) with me.

I really have no outside friends so I have the gift of all my friends here for the last 11+ years on Jokeroo.​

[/QUOTE]

The gifts of birth, family, love, companions, and friends are the most precious gifts we can get in this life. :thumbs up:
Thanks for sharing your gift memories with me. :littleheart:

 

[AuroraAngel]

The greatest gift I ever received was from my husband David. It was back in 1996 on my birthday.

David and I were just dating at the time and he had come over to my home to visit me and my sons for my birthday. I was distraught at the time because I had fallen behind on the payments on my Mother's headstone and the company that I bought it from had sent me a nasty letter and a picture of my Mother's headstone no longer on her grave and back on their property.
David seen the picture lying on the counter in my kitchen and asked about it. When I told him what was going on, he loaded me and my sons into his truck and took us over to the company that had removed the headstone from my Mother's grave.
He paid the balance on my Mother's headstone as a gift for birthday. Now that was truly an amazing gift to me in itself but what happened after captured my heart.

David told the man he paid to have my Mother's headstone put back on her grave "today." The man argued that there was no way to return the headstone for a least a couple of days. Pissed off, my David had the man get his men to load my Mother's headstone in the back of his truck. He drove us up to the graveyard where my Mother was buried and picked up her headstone himself and carried it all the way over to her grave and set it down where it belonged ever so gently.

I am quite sure my mouth was gaping at what he had done for me. Never had any man ever been so thoughtful towards me. I fell in love with him that day and the memory of his gift to me is one I will treasure forever in my heart. :heartburst:

 

[squirt]

pass the tissues please? :tissues:
what wonderful gifts, both of you! :clap:

by far the best gift I was ever given was the planting in my heart the value of helping others
when our car broke down, and we were in the middle of nowhere, with a limited amount of money in our pocket that we needed every dime of to get back home, a man we didn't know, and still don't, not only helped fix our car, but bought the parts needed, never left his name, or any way to contact him, but he did leave behind one thing, a desire in my heart to spend the rest of my life paying him back by doing the same for others, he will never know the impact he had, we made it home with $20 to spare

 

[AuroraAngel]

[QUOTE="squirt, post: 5071565]pass the tissues please? :tissues:
what wonderful gifts, both of you! :clap:

by far the best gift I was ever given was the planting in my heart the value of helping others
when our car broke down, and we were in the middle of nowhere, with a limited amount of money in our pocket that we needed every dime of to get back home, a man we didn't know, and still don't, not only helped fix our car, but bought the parts needed, never left his name, or any way to contact him, but he did leave behind one thing, a desire in my heart to spend the rest of my life paying him back by doing the same for others, he will never know the impact he had, we made it home with $20 to spare [/QUOTE]

What a wonderful gift! One that keeps on giving! :loveit:

 

[Bamber]

The greatest gift I have received comes from 9 years before I was born, when the British government of the day instigated the National Health Service.

I had very little need of the NHS until fairly recently but it was always there, and when I did need it I was treated professionally and promptly with no need to worry about paying for that treatment. Without a publicly funded health service I would probably not be here, I certainly could not have afforded to pay for the treatment I received.

 

[kipper]

A toy Rocket

 

[Bamber]

Still waiting for a real one, eh?

 

[AuroraAngel]

[QUOTE="Bamber, post: 5071717]The greatest gift I have received comes from 9 years before I was born, when the British government of the day instigated the National Health Service.

I had very little need of the NHS until fairly recently but it was always there, and when I did need it I was treated professionally and promptly with no need to worry about paying for that treatment. Without a publicly funded health service I would probably not be here, I certainly could not have afforded to pay for the treatment I received.[/QUOTE]

And I am so very glad you are here. What an amazing gift to receive! :loveit:

 

[AuroraAngel]

[QUOTE="kipper, post: 5071725]A toy Rocket[/QUOTE]

Lol, I am not surprised that your greatest gift was a toy rocket because you are out of this world funny... lol :likelaugh:

 

[kipper]

[QUOTE="Bamber, post: 5071743]Still waiting for a real one, eh?

[/QUOTE]

I had a deprived childhood..:crying:

[QUOTE="AuroraAngel, post: 5071763]

Lol, I am not surprised that your greatest gift was a toy rocket because you are out of this world funny... lol :likelaugh:[/QUOTE]

Most think it would be funny if I was out of this world...lol

 

[AuroraAngel]

[QUOTE="kipper, post: 5071765]I had a deprived childhood..:crying:



Most think it would be funny if I was out of this world...lol[/QUOTE]

Well I happen to like this world with you in it. :littleheart:

 

[Romford Lad]

There are some lovely memories here ~ lovely to have experienced, and lovely to be able to remember.

and I think a toy rocket is a wonderful gift as well. I don't have any memories that bring back the 'gift' thoughts, other than for meeting my wife some 25 years ago, why she should put up with me, an old codger, trying to take photo's, paint and do animations - and she, being quite younger than me, is totally beyond me, I only know after all I had been through in the years before, I wouldn't be here now if it wasn't for her love ~ that is a gift I never expected.

 

[squirt]

those 2 gifts, of love and life, are kinda' top of the list, eh? :bravo:
and a toy rocket of course lol :goldstar:

 

[AuroraAngel]

[QUOTE="Romford Lad, post: 5071841]There are some lovely memories here ~ lovely to have experienced, and lovely to be able to remember.

and I think a toy rocket is a wonderful gift as well. I don't have any memories that bring back the 'gift' thoughts, other than for meeting my wife some 25 years ago, why she should put up with me, an old codger, trying to take photo's, paint and do animations - and she, being quite younger than me, is totally beyond me, I only know after all I had been through in the years before, I wouldn't be here now if it wasn't for her love ~ that is a gift I never expected. [/QUOTE]

What a beautiful gift memory of love and one that continues to grow! :loveit:
And I think Kip's toy rocket gift is wonderful too, just as wonderful as his gift of humor. :blowkiss:

 

[Manzy]

What a wonderful thread and awesome responses :littleheart:

I have two gifts - the first one is similar to Aurora's :rose:

When my mom passed in 89' we all remember the days when we had very little money for things other than our regular bills and such. So my mom went without a headstone for a time. There is an unclaimed property site for the state of California and sometimes me, my siblings take a look. One day we found some under my grandma's name (my mom's mom) So I gathered the millions of paperwork they needed from death certificates to birth, heirships etc.. Finally they accepted everything and one day a check came in the mail, the amount needed plus a little change for our mom's headstone, we proudly got her one and I always says her headstone came from heaven and her mom :lotsalove:

The second gift was seeing my niece with a smile as wide as the sea. She never knew her dad as my sister moved shortly after my niece was born and that was that. My niece asked me if I could find her dad for her. His name is John West a name so common there are literally thousands with the name. I had 2 things to go on the names of his 2 daughters (had no idea how they spelled Christina or Alicia) and that he used to live in central California. Well I searched the internet and searched I had no middle name for him and this is about the beginning of Facebook so that was not a lot of help. So I would stop searching and 6 months would go by and my niece would say Aunt Carol could you find my dad for me. I just needed another little push so I would go on the hunt and again no luck.. Off and on over the years this would go on until the 4th year I decided I would go on Ancestry.com its a paying site but the message board was free at the time. I sent out a message looking for my nieces dad his name is John West, he has 2 other daughters and is from..... Guess what one day a lady replied and gave me all his info on Ancestry she was someone who gathered information and helped others. I took that information and put it on Facebook and I got a hit my nieces half sister Alicia came up and she looked just like her (goose bumps) I then found her other sister Christina and messaged her my nieces info, I texted my niece and she said OMG Aunt Carol you found them you found them I called her and her voice was so filled with excitement that gift was a miracle. Anyway long story short her dad lives in Montana, her sisters in Oregon and Idaho. She met her sisters first they drove down to Calif and then later her dad..

also the morning I found him I got in my car to head out and I turned on the radio it was the song "Feelings" one of my mom's favorites - I just balled like a baby and told her thank you for helping me with this journey :rose:

Update: A favorite quote of mine comes from the movie the Wizard of Oz “If I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own back yard and Be careful what you wish for.. but she found her closure and that's what she needed.

 

[squirt]

what beautiful gifts! :lotsalove:
:blow:

 

[AuroraAngel]

[QUOTE="Manzy, post: 5071955]What a wonderful thread and awesome responses :littleheart:

I have two gifts - the first one is similar to Aurora's :rose:

When my mom passed in 89' we all remember the days when we had very little money for things other than our regular bills and such. So my mom went without a headstone for a time. There is an unclaimed property site for the state of California and sometimes me, my siblings take a look. One day we found some under my grandma's name (my mom's mom) So I gathered the millions of paperwork they needed from death certificates to birth, heirships etc.. Finally they accepted everything and one day a check came in the mail, the amount needed plus a little change for our mom's headstone, we proudly got her one and I always says her headstone came from heaven and her mom :lotsalove:

The second gift was seeing my niece with a smile as wide as the sea. She never knew her dad as my sister moved shortly after my niece was born and that was that. My niece asked me if I could find her dad for her. His name is John West a name so common there are literally thousands with the name. I had 2 things to go on the names of his 2 daughters (had no idea how they spelled Christina or Alicia) and that he used to live in central California. Well I searched the internet and searched I had no middle name for him and this is about the beginning of Facebook so that was not a lot of help. So I would stop searching and 6 months would go by and my niece would say Aunt Carol could you find my dad for me. I just needed another little push so I would go on the hunt and again no luck.. Off and on over the years this would go on until the 4th year I decided I would go on Ancestry.com its a paying site but the message board was free at the time. I sent out a message looking for my nieces dad his name is John West, he has 2 other daughters and is from..... Guess what one day a lady replied and gave me all his info on Ancestry she was someone who gathered information and helped others. I took that information and put it on Facebook and I got a hit my nieces half sister Alicia came up and she looked just like her (goose bumps) I then found her other sister Christina and messaged her my nieces info, I texted my niece and she said OMG Aunt Carol you found them you found them I called her and her voice was so filled with excitement that gift was a miracle. Anyway long story short her dad lives in Montana, her sisters in Oregon and Idaho. She met her sisters first they drove down to Calif and then later her dad..

also the morning I found him I got in my car to head out and I turned on the radio it was the song "Feelings" one of my mom's favorites - I just balled like a baby and told her thank you for helping me with this journey :rose:

Update: A favorite quote of mine comes from the movie the Wizard of Oz “If I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own back yard and Be careful what you wish for.. but she found her closure and that's what she needed.



[/QUOTE]

:tissues: What beautiful gifts, Sis! :loveit:

Being there for family and sharing the love is truly one of the greatest gifts you can give and receive!

 

[Manzy]

[QUOTE="squirt, post: 5071970]what beautiful gifts! :lotsalove:
:blow:[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE="AuroraAngel, post: 5071972]
:tissues: What beautiful gifts, Sis! :loveit:

Being there for family and sharing the love is truly one of the greatest gifts you can give and receive! [/QUOTE]

Thank you both yours and everyone's is equally the same within our own hearts :littleheart: :iheartyou: