An Act of Kindness

It's no secret I have struggled immensely with my move to Madison.  In the midst of the struggle, there have been some good things though.  For example:

• I have discovered a lot of new, interesting, fun places in Madison.  It's a great town.  I've been more adventurous than ever before.
• I have persevered through dark moments, the depths of which no one but me will ever fully understand.  I proved something to myself about my own resilience.
• I have met some good people. 

With regard to meeting good people, here is a case in point.  I supervise one of the office managers in our Wisconsin operations.  She is a great lady.  As I have gotten to know her, I have grown quite fond of her.  She does excellent work and I like her as a person.

A couple weeks ago, I shared with her that Scott was coming to Madison to visit.  I (sort of) jokingly said to her, "I guess this means I need to shave my legs from the knee up."

Scott was scheduled to arrive around 6:00 PM on Friday, May 21.  That afternoon, the office manager caught me in the hallway at work and said quietly, "Are you going to be here for a little while?"  I told her I was.  She came to my office, on the stealth, about 4:30 PM.  She presented me with 2 gift bags.

What?!  Presents for me??

I had no idea what the presents could be.  It wasn't my birthday.  Not my employment anniversary with the company.  No holiday.

Well, we all know the best way to find out what a present is:  OPEN IT!

So I did.

In the first bag was a bottle of wine.  A really cool looking bottle of wine.  A Riesling in an electric blue bottle called "Relax".  The office manager told me it was for Scott and me so we could "Relax" and enjoy our time together. 

In the other bag, which was a super cute flower bag with beaded fringe....

...was a  mini chocolate torte with strawberries, a lilac scented candle (because she remembered me saying I love the smell of fresh lilacs), a box of chocolates and...

...this is the funny part...

...a mini bottle of shaving cream and a pack of razors- you know, so I could shave my legs from the knee up.

Wasn't that so cute? 

I was deeply touched by her thoughtfulness in giving me these gifts.  It was completely unexpected and such a pure act of kindness of heart extended from her to me.  Everything she put in the gift bags had been carefully considered and selected deliberately.  It was a little romance package for Scott and me to share.  She gave it because she was genuinely happy for me that Scott was coming to town and she genuinely wanted us to relax and enjoy our time together.  That kind of genuineness is a beautiful thing and can be hard to find.  

Oh, I almost forgot to mention this about the chocolate torte.  The container it was in had an indented spot on top for a mini-fork.  The office manager had gotten a second fork (so there would be one for Scott and one for me) and she taped it to the top of the container next to the other fork.  Since she had to "steal" the extra fork, she referred to it as contraband, which made me laugh. (oops- I'd already had a couple bites of the torte, using a "real" fork, before I took this picture....) 

Here is a picture of the whole collection.

I really couldn't believe she did this for me.  My eyes welled up with tears.  I told her, "I've really struggled with my decision to come to Madison but if I hadn't, I wouldn't have met good people like you and that would have been my loss."

And I meant that.