30 Sucks…

Very rarely in my life have people done something for me expecting absolutely nothing in return.   Generally I get the short end of this lead-weighted stick and do all the work in my relationships.  In third grade I used all my hard earned “Cherry Cash” (frugally saved by yours truly) to buy all of my friends the pencils, watercolor sets and erasers that they wanted – what did I get?  I really don’t think I got anything, since all I remember is not doing my math correctly and owing Ms. Cherry two “Cherry Cash” I did not have.  You think a single one of those “friends” would give up an eraser to save me from my embarrassment? – Nope.

As an adult, life has made me jaded and apprehensive about people “just doing things to be nice”… usually it is a guise to get me to do something; perhaps not immediately, but eventually collections will start calling on me to pay up.  I am also a firm believer in the whole “get what you give” mantra – but that isn’t just about money.  I think one sided friendships/relationships/people are a big fat waste of time.  I don’t want to be the one who always calls, that coordinates everything, puts in all the effort (forehead slap as I type this, because that is generally the way I operate).

Enter Houston.

He is single-handedly has attempted to disarm my brick/concrete/tough-as-nails wall of skepticism with his generosity.  Loooong story short, he spoiled me rotten on my birthday, never expecting anything in return.  I wanted to return the favor, but since the Beatles are no longer touring and I couldn’t get tickets to a “Big Bang Theory” studio taping, I was at a complete loss at how to pay him back.  Now, the whole payback thing is my complex, not his… a card and a Coffee Bean iced tea would have been sufficient for his birthday.  But that would just not do.

Thank goodness for Pinterest saving the day (again); and I, again, attempted to improve upon a Pinterest idea and make it AWESOME.

 

Houston’s birthday was his 30th birthday, and I loved the idea of “30 Sucks” with a bouquet/box of suckers… but since I LOVE those silly paint buckets from Michaels (seriously, the person who thought of them was GENIUS) I decided to use that instead.   And since 30 is not so bad, I tried to make it a little more upbeat by adding “…but I think you’re awesome.”

30 Tootsie Pops in my bucket, each with a flag with a reason my friend is awesome, and I had a killer birthday present.   In my mind, the teeter-totter of gift giving is still a little unbalanced, but I can honestly say that his generosity is sincere and without selfish motivation and I am so fortunate to call him my friend.