Thanks for reminder that accepting a gift is a gift. Your meaningful purchase is gratifying and touching. Also, thanks for the closeup. It says it all.
Thanks for the closeup of the doll’s face at the end of your piece. Your reflection on gift receiving is so true. Thanks for sharing the chain of events and extending the gift giving to us.
This is a serendipity post for me because for the last few days I’ve been writing a post in my head about unexpected gifts I’ve received from people I only know on the internet. I love this story of yours! Also - I agree 100% with your comments on Sirens & Dept Q. I wrote a tiny bit about Sirens in my Substack, saying “ I knew exactly how it would end but, like a car crash, I couldn’t look away.” Great summer trash!
Life is full of beautiful acts of gifting and kindness. More of this please! The story of the Santos cage doll is poignant and so sweet, especially how you acquired it.
HAHAHA! So true about Sirens. My daughter and I watched three episodes, then were like, "Hmmm" maybe not. Love the doll and the story about how you got her!
Exquisite piece, your writing has such a visual component for me. It creates images in my mind’s eye. I feel as if I’m in that line and can see the store, same with Richard’s.
so delighted by this whole post: the woman's unexpected gift, your crafty retelling of the story waiting in line to snag it, the fact that the ploy worked. your santos cage doll looks like a modigliani, and seems quite happy in her new home. love richard's doll too...you both scored! and i guffawed at his father standing up in the theater to announce them leaving. totally justified—nothing worse than getting a "gift" that turns out to be an assignment.
While Trickster Makes The World is also salient in these times, thank you for this excerpt from Lewis Hyde. I find it awkward and uncomfortable to receive the generosity of others - such as with the letter carrier in the check-out line - so I invoke a line from a recently-read essay: 'To refuse a kindness is itself an unkindness.' And I want to practice all forms of kindness. And I desperately want 'to feel better about the world we were living in.'
Hyde’s The Gift is my bible.
Thanks for reminder that accepting a gift is a gift. Your meaningful purchase is gratifying and touching. Also, thanks for the closeup. It says it all.
Thanks for this wonderful comment. That was some beautiful and crazy moment in the Hannaford's! And what an after-image it has left.
Beautiful reminder about human behavior and need, and Lewis Hyde!
Thanks, love, will hope to see you both soon. xxL
Thanks for the closeup of the doll’s face at the end of your piece. Your reflection on gift receiving is so true. Thanks for sharing the chain of events and extending the gift giving to us.
Thanks to you, darling Kathi, for reading the stack! xxL
'Love this post, partly because I witnessed the events, but mainly for how your writing connected them so beautifully.
Thanks, my darling partner in all adventures. So excited for your stack's writing, too. xxL
This is a serendipity post for me because for the last few days I’ve been writing a post in my head about unexpected gifts I’ve received from people I only know on the internet. I love this story of yours! Also - I agree 100% with your comments on Sirens & Dept Q. I wrote a tiny bit about Sirens in my Substack, saying “ I knew exactly how it would end but, like a car crash, I couldn’t look away.” Great summer trash!
The gift is a great prompt, I hope you enjoy writing about yours. xxL
Life is full of beautiful acts of gifting and kindness. More of this please! The story of the Santos cage doll is poignant and so sweet, especially how you acquired it.
Thanks so much. If you are a new subscriber, there is much in the archive to give your hand a squeeze. xxL
Love the cage doll! Wish she had a twin. Also love R's running model - "hey, you can't draw me, I'm outta here."
Yes, the figures with their articulated joints, are now in league in the house!
What a gift you are! Thank you. Now I need a running wooden mannequin or a beautiful wooden doll!
So kind and many thanks. xxL
HAHAHA! So true about Sirens. My daughter and I watched three episodes, then were like, "Hmmm" maybe not. Love the doll and the story about how you got her!
Exquisite piece, your writing has such a visual component for me. It creates images in my mind’s eye. I feel as if I’m in that line and can see the store, same with Richard’s.
The enchantment of language. xxL
so delighted by this whole post: the woman's unexpected gift, your crafty retelling of the story waiting in line to snag it, the fact that the ploy worked. your santos cage doll looks like a modigliani, and seems quite happy in her new home. love richard's doll too...you both scored! and i guffawed at his father standing up in the theater to announce them leaving. totally justified—nothing worse than getting a "gift" that turns out to be an assignment.
While Trickster Makes The World is also salient in these times, thank you for this excerpt from Lewis Hyde. I find it awkward and uncomfortable to receive the generosity of others - such as with the letter carrier in the check-out line - so I invoke a line from a recently-read essay: 'To refuse a kindness is itself an unkindness.' And I want to practice all forms of kindness. And I desperately want 'to feel better about the world we were living in.'
Yes to all. xxL
Exquisite (the story and your writing).....
Thank you!
I'm going to tell everyone about the eternal nature of gift giving.....Thank you once again.
AND....It's always a gift to learn something absolutely new to me... The Cage Doll....A quest ...
Thanks so much. xxL
The selfie with the cop is beautiful, the crepe-iness is beautiful (that article you linked to was fantastic).