A Card That Kept On Giving

My Mother would tell me that when something is given from the heart the receiver will like it and enjoy the gift. Once when someone where I worked drew my name for Christmas and I saw the great gifts that everyone was getting, I could hardly wait to open my present. I hoped that the disappointment did not show on my face because the gift was a pair of knit booties. I did not like the gift at all and envied the calendars, tea cups, diaries, jewelry and gift certificates that others received. When I got home I threw the booties in a drawer.

A few months later, I was looking for something to keep my feet warm and pulled out the booties. They were comfortable and I found myself wearing them a lot. Years later when the booties had worn out and I had to toss them out, I finally understood what my Mother meant. The lady who gave me the booties must have given them from her heart!

I received a gift card for Ruby Tuesday and invited a friend for a meal. After paying with the gift card, there was about $7.30 left on the card. A few days later, I took my granddaughter to the same restaurant and we had a pleasant lunch. When I gave the waiter the gift card I told him I would pay the remainder with cash. He left and when he returned he said, "I used your $25 gift card." I said, "Oh, there was only about seven dollars on the card." His reply was, "No I called it in and they told me there was $25 on the card."  I said, "I don't think that is right." He said, "There is nothing I can do when I am told there is $25 on this card. Maybe you had another card."

The remainder of the card, what ever it happened to be, I told him to keep for a tip. I couldn't help but think that the giver of the card must have given it to me  from the heart because the card worked twice; $40 on a $25 gift card!

(If the reader is wondering that maybe the card was worth more than $25, it wasn't, because before I used the card I called the number on the back of the card and was told it was a $25 card.)