The One Gift I Almost Didn't Give

I have a rule I made up for myself a few years ago. When I see something and immediately think of someone, I buy it.

Not for an occasion. Not when their birthday is coming up. Right then. Because I was thinking of them and the thing was right there and that is basically the universe handing you something.

Most of the time it is small. A book. A candle in a scent they would lose their mind over. A card that says something they needed to hear that week.

But one time it was not small and I almost talked myself out of it.

I was wandering around a little shop and I found this ceramic mug. It was handmade. It had this particular shade of blue that my friend Theo had been trying to get in his apartment for two years. He had talked about it. He had sent me paint swatches. He had a whole thing about this blue. And here was a mug that was exactly that blue, made by someone who clearly cared a lot, and it cost thirty-two dollars.

I thought about it for too long. Is this a weird thing to give someone? We do not really exchange gifts outside of holidays. What if it is too small? What if he already has enough mugs?

I bought it. I shipped it to him with a note that said only: this is the blue.

He called me. Not texted. Called.

He said he had been having a hard week and he had not told anyone and he went to make coffee that morning and saw the package and read the note and he just stood there in his kitchen for a minute.

I think about that a lot. The version of me who decided it was weird and put it back. The version of Theo who did not get a call that day. The gap between those two realities is thirty-two dollars and about four seconds of courage.

When you see something and think of someone, that is information. Do not waste it.