Feeling Seen

Kids have a hard time giving gifts to their parents. I'm not sure exactly why that is, but my guess is that they just don't have the life experience to put themselves in someone else's place and figure out what it is that they actually want. So there's the old joke about getting your dad a tie or a pair of socks for every Christmas, birthday, and Father's Day.

This year, however, that didn't happen to me. Maybe it's because my kids are getting old enough to get outside their own head now. But I actually think it's just my oldest daughter. She's a real sweetheart, but beyond that she's really organized. A few years ago, she got tired of how hard it was to get presents for me and her mom, so she made a list on her phone that she could add to any time she heard me or her mom express interest in something, or complain that we needed something that we didn't have.

I've been thinking about getting a collection of flags from all the states and countries our family members have lived in. Apparently, I've talked about it enough that the kids knew just what to get me for my presents:

Books and flags for Christmas. That's a pretty happy day for me.

It's nice when somebody thinks of me enough to get me something that will make me really happy. Maybe I ought to start a similar list to keep for when I need to buy a present.

I only wish I'd lived in more places so that I could collect more flags...hmm...maybe I should get city flags too?