i have the most amazing family

I went to a family birthday party today, a lovely time in my aunt’s rose garden, eating fabulous, homemade food and hanging out under the sun watching the kids catch frogs. But at some point my mother, sister and brother-in-law started kind-of…giggling.

“Come on, Maya, we want to show you something (hee hee hee!).”

“What?” say I.

“Something we thought would make you happy.”

They are dragging me to the car. I’m starting to get nervous. “A bottle of tequila?”

“Oh, yeah, we bought a gallon jug. We splurged.”

By now they have me to the trunk, still giggling, and I’m starting to wonder if I should call for help. When they lift up a blanket (hee hee hee!) and proudly show me A BRAND NEW APPLE MACBOOK.

I’m kind of stupid. I sort of stand there with my mouth open, confused, thinking they want to show me something on the computer. Except it’s so perfectly wrapped. I start to get that it is a gift and I think, it must be an old one of my brother-in-laws. Maybe a cast off from his IT job. Maybe it’s some refurbished jobbie, an expired model. Something. It’s good that I was wearing my shades because my eyes are tearing up as I slowly begin to comprehend that, yes, it’s for me, yes they bought it for me at the apple store, yes this is really happening.

It isn’t really that mac’s are oh, so, amazing that had me floored–though, obviously I’m pretty stoked about macs. It’s this: these people who love me banded together to give me something that perfectly supports me, supports this strange thing that I do, this activity of my heart, my writing.

It’s just about the best present I have ever gotten. 1) It’s exactly what I wanted, 2) I was totally and completely surprised, 3) it’s a really great, fancy, big ticket, present that I 4) probably couldn’t have gotten for myself.

Not only that, they had loaded it up with the specific writing software I wanted! And when I turned it on, it said Maya Lassiter’s Macbook, with a little picture of me, right there on the screen. Can you believe that?

THANK YOU Catherine, Stephen, and Mom. You guys are wonderful.