Helen and I agreed we
would not buy each other gifts this year. We are trying to get rid of stuff, so
bringing more stuff into that process would be counter-productive, meaning
there would be a lot more stuff on the counters, which are already too crowded.
However, I was in TIS,
buying some stuff for other people that she asked me to. Helen is not allowed
in TIS anymore, since the last time she was there she did a face plant on their
sidewalk and had to go to the ER. It’s not that TIS won’t let her in now. I’m
the one who insists on going alone. Last time she got my handkerchief all
bloody.
TIS means, in Indiana,
Textbooks for Indiana Students, but there are no text books there, or anywhere
else, anymore. But there are scads of great IU gifts and gear, including a big
display of 200th anniversary IU coffee mugs, with names on them. I
knew they would not have a Helen mug. It’s a great name, but little used
anymore. If she were a Whitney or a Courtney or Madison, no problem.
But lo and behold, there
was a mug with “Helen” displayed proudly on it. I knew I could not wrap it up, since
that would say “Christmas gift,” so I washed it and just put it in the dish
dryer rack for her to find.
Shortly thereafter,
another mug appeared in that rack, the one with Larry Dunphee’s face on it.
Larry was the proprietor of our favorite book store-coffee shop, Books on
First, in Dixon, IL. He died a couple of weeks ago, and Brenda Spratt, the
manager, started selling mugs with Larry’s mug on it as a memorial. Knowing how
much I liked Larry and Books on First, Helen sent all the way to Dixon to get
me one.
When you’ve been married a
long time, you know you are supposed to get each other a coffee mug, even if
you said you wouldn’t do gifts this year.
John Robert McFarland
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