The Rule of Love

You might be familiar with the principle that if you love something set it free.  If it comes back to you, it's yours.  If it doesn't, it never was.  

In my family, we have a different rule: If you love something, it's yours...even if it's someone else's. My mom, sister, and I use this rule frequently with clothing and jewelry items. For example, if I have a blazer that my sister borrows and wears over and over while I just wear it every once in a while and she tells me she loves it, I am more than happy to bequeath to her the blazer. And even if I wasn't happy to give her the blazer, at the next family get-together, she could bring it up, and my entire family would use the rule and familial pressure to commandeer the item for the rightful person.  

Recently, my brother was at my parent's house, looking through the pantry, and wondered where the cookie jar was. The blue Tupperware cookie jar from our childhood that housed so many batches of my mom's delicious cookies... He loved that jar.  But so did my sister, Maggie. And she had already acquired the jar through the rule.  

But then she did something very selfless for Chris's 30th birthday.  She found the exact same jar on e-bay, baked 30 delicious cookies, and bequeathed that to him...because the only thing better than the thing you love is an exact replica of the thing you loved filled with cookies.  Think about it.

Also, tomorrow happens to be the 30th anniversary of Chris's birth. Thanks for coming out 18 months before me and paving the way. Happy Birthday!