The Gift-Wrapping Matters Little

Because he had Alzheimer’s, Louis would repeat the same stories over and over again. After two and a half years of our weekly get-together, I could have told those stories myself without missing a detail. The strange thing is that I do not recall ever being annoyed at the repetitions. I think it is because I always felt that the stories he was sharing with me were more than tidbits of information about himself, members of his family, news items, or miscellaneous facts that he had stored in his memory over time. Whenever he spoke to me and regardless of the topic of conversation, I understood that he was also trying to share a part of himself. He was giving me of himself through his stories and that gift of self was made anew no matter how many times he repeated them. The friendship that developed between us certainly never grew old or boring. 

I guess that is how friendships are always built: one small gifting of self at a time. The gift-wrapping matters little.