E: RIP Steve Jobs

Today, I came across a picture on Facebook that my friend had taken in school; it was for her best friend's birthday. I do not know this girl, but just from that one picture, you can feel the love she must have had for that day. The friends, the smiles, and more importantly the presents. Disclaimer: This post is not meant to be arguing for materialistic value. Trust me, you'll get it in a sec.

So, people are always wondering "what do I get for him?" or "I don't know what she likes", that's a dilemma when you don't know that person well enough to be making even a mere educated guess. Birthday presents are a pain, especially for the sender, hard choices to make and one worries that it might offend the birthday kid. Seriously, a gift should come from the heart, no matter what. It must serve a purpose, given thorough thought, and believe that in some impossible manner, it is made for him or her. It's all about making dreams come true.

I too struggled with this one too many time, it's always a hit or miss and even as a child, I use to think the bigger the better, or the pricier it is the better. It begs the question of value, if you give me an iPad, oh yea sure, any reasonable person would be happy at that thought, BUT is it necessarily the only thing that could potentially make it the ultimate present? At one point in life, I could afford an iPad of my own, so that no longer tugs at my heart as say...a handmade birthday card? Cheap materials, check; but what makes it expensive is the fact that this gift is Priceless, one of a kind tailor made with the recipient in mind.

Okay, I suck at handcrafting stuffs, must I really force it? No. There are more ways to bend around the rules of defining 'special'. Recall that I do mention the word "purpose" and "given thought". She always wanted a penguin plush toy, and you have that cash in your pocket, search for it. He always wanted that Risk board game so badly that he would stop by Toy 'r Us every time just to look at it. That ought to have shed some light on a rather cloudy day.

Right, so the only thing birthday kid wants is the dang iPad. Getting it doesn't mean you're being materialistic and you are feeding materialism. Say, you did save your lunch money to cash in for the iPad, you sacrifice not buying that new arrival dress, or you simply quit shopping for two whole months! Commendable efforts count, because you are "making dreams come true" by doing this. There you go magician, have a spin round the thinking hat and when you do actually pull out a rabbit, you're in it to win it.

Back to my friend, she and her friends made the birthday girl a doll house out of pop sickle sticks, baked cupcake cake, handmade pop-up card, and a plush doll. She said, "If I could turn all of you into dolls to keep you all with me forever I would." And that makes a whole lot of difference.

Keep fishing,
Vonnie S.