A Christmas Gift

Something I wrote on Christmas night…

Tonight, I received a Christmas gift from my brother Chris and his wife Kaitlin that was rather unique, and heartwarming. It really was something that nobody else could have given me. It was very special.

Karen loved doing for others. The thing she loved most about Christmas was giving gifts, not receiving them. She loved giving so much, she did it year round, whenever she wanted, no matter if there was a holiday. She loved making the people she loved feel good.

I was reminded tonight that Karen and I made origami out of $50 dollar bills for Chris and Kaitlin’s wedding gift. I haven’t thought about it since we did it. It didn’t occur to me at the time that it was something that I should remember for the rest of my life.

Now that I think back on it, I remember that Karen did quite a lot of research. She had us watch videos and look over a variety of instructions. We even practiced on $1 bills.

I can tell you that neither Karen or I thought that the origami would be saved. It’s $50 bills! My brother’s new family needed to pay bills. Spend it! If anything, we hoped it would end up being diaper money for nieces and nephews!

Lots of folks give a little cash to the couple being married. We wanted to do so, but Karen wanted it to be special. And thanks to Chris and Kaitlin, you can see what that looks like:

And now what to say…

I wrote many paragraphs after the above, but kept deleting them. There are thing to be said, but not just yet.

I’m really humbled that somebody would save a gift from us. That they would consider that gift to be more valuable than the money that it was made from. And then to gift it back to me… Well, I’m not sure what to say.

I can tell you that Karen would never folded up the money if she knew they wouldn’t unfold it. She wanted it to be beautiful, and perfect, and it seems that it was, but we meant the beauty to be temporary.

It’s things like this that make me feel that her impact upon the world isn’t temporary. That the things she did will still make a difference. That Karen is the butterfly in the butterfly effect.

She brought such beauty into the world.

We miss you Karen.