The Gift of Nothing was a gift from my parents to my kids one Christmas. No, they weren’t being cheap or trying to be funny. They were sharing a sweet story, written by Patrick McDonnell, about the simple – but priceless – gift of spending time together. Of course, I love Patrick McDonnell’s long-running comic strip, MUTTS, so the book and its message were an easy sell for me.
I’m not quite sure where that book has disappeared to. It has likely fallen into the abyss that is our basement. I should look for it.
Anyway…back to the point of my story.
I was out of the house early today, headed to my office in another state. It was a long, painful, 2 hour drive and then a day full of meetings. Fun times. The only bonus was that I was able to leave early enough to get back home and meet my girls as they were getting off the school bus. I suppose life is a series of these give and take moments.
Without realizing that our usual Tuesday night activities were canceled, I worked quickly to take the dog out for a walk, feed her and get our own dinner started. By 5:15 the dog was content and by 6:20 dinner had been served, eaten and cleaned up. I moved frantically out of the kitchen and then realized….I had nowhere to go.
An evening of nothing is so unusual, so rare – it’s almost unheard of. So, here I am, at 6:32pm on a Tuesday night reveling in this glorious and unexpected gift of nothing. I think I’ll go share my new gift with my little ladies.
Here’s wishing you the gift of nothing too!
The Happiness Trick 