three wishes...and, what goes around comes around

A few Christmases ago I got it into my head that I needed three things.

1). A winter coat for my daughter. Not a new coat--because I was trying to teach her a lesson for having misplaced the most warm and beautiful fur-trimmed robin egg blue coat (that I had had my eye on all the winter before and played my cards just right to grab at the very last moment and at the very best clearance price)--but something that would keep her relatively warm through the winter.

2). A pool table. Yes, I know pool tables don't just fall from the sky. But my boys were turning into teenagers and they needed something to do for fun with their friends since we don't own a trampoline or a swimming pool or the latest Nintendo.

and 3). Well, my memory is usually a little cloudy about three, but it might have been an outdoor basketball standard. See reason for wanting item two.

So I kept wishing for these three things to just magically appear. And guess what. They did. Two different neighbors handed down two not-so-the-latest-fashion coats. Coats which kept her warm, but were not too cool to keep her from learning her lesson (I hope). Then another neighbor just called out of the blue and asked if I didn't want their pool table--so thankfully they don't fall from the sky, but sometimes they do fall from heaven. And another neighbor gave us their basketball standard. And I was very thankful. Sometimes you do get what you ask for.

This season I have had a couple of opportunities to be generous.

On one occasion I had tickets to the Shakespearean Festival that I really wanted to use, but couldn't before the fall season would end. I was able to totally delight someone I didn't know too well--so she would never have expected them. But she had been ill and needed something to look forward to and it was one of her favorite plays that is not often performed. I was so happy to have just the right gift to share.

And recently I was at a benefit and I wrote a modest check out for someone who really needed the money even though I really couldn't afford it either. I thought twice about my unbalanced bank account. But I wanted to give; so I did.

Imagine my surprise when just this past week--during a time of Thanksgiving--I got back just what I gave. Someone gave me enough comp tickets to take my whole family to Hale Center Theater's "A Christmas Carol." I'm delighted! And I won a random drawing at work and received a gift card for the exact amount of my check.

Although the giving itself is its own reward, sometimes the good stuff comes right back at you as well.