Gifts

This is a chapter from my third book called Love letters

I was hoping the word gift would have an interesting etymology so that would make a good start to this chapter. The origin of the word gift turns out to be pretty ordinary to me. The word "gift" descends from the Old Norse word "gipt". Gipt means both "gift" and "good luck". There were many times I was lucky and won gifts. When I was in my teens I won a game boy from the Flavorite contest. There was a pallet man as we called him who passed through the village.

At a team building exercise at my first job out of university I was the closest to guess the amount of beans in a bag and won some spending money. At another job I won a stack of Movietowne tickets for scoring the highest in the orientation game. For a time, many weekends I would go watch a movie in the cinema. As a child I looked forward to receiving the gift of money on Eid day. One hadith narrates, "Give each other gifts and you will love each other." Hadiths are traditions of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).

I love receiving gifts but I also love giving gifts. I once gifted my uncle a nice Casio watch that he cherished and used until the band was worn and needed to be replaced. My mom often talks about the beautiful chain and earring set I once gifted her. Charity is also a form of gift giving. I remember the great floods of twenty eighteen when the country came together to help those of us who were affected by the flooding.

It is important to me to have an attitude of gratitude. I am thankful for the gift of life. Every day that I wake up and I am able, I thank God. I am also thankful for the gifts of talent that I was born with. Picasso once said, "The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away." I am learning that one of my gifts is my literary ability and gift of storytelling. For those of you reading this book I would like to suggest that this book would make a great gift to the people special in your life. This is a story of someone sharing their loves with the world and this book will be an encouragement for others to write their own love letters.

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