2006-12-29

Unexpected Pleasures


I noticed something this year that I hadn’t noticed before. Unexpected pleasures are better than expected pleasures. Let me explain.

Around Christmas lots of people exchange gifts. We know that we are going to get presents from certain people. We know our spouse is going to give us something. We know our kids are going to give us something. We know that we will get something from the office gift exchange. The list goes on and on. In a way, we expected those gifts. Don’t get me wrong, we like or even love those gifts and the people who give them to us. They are precious. But we still expect them. It’s an expected pleasure.

Once in awhile we are surprised and someone we never imagined gives us a little something. Usually it’s not a big thing, just a small little thing that says, I’m thinking of you. It’s unexpected and I find that it gives me pleasure. I can’t really verbalize why, but those little unexpected things are quite nice. That unexpected pleasure really cuts through all the junk of Christmas and hits home.

High on my list for next year is to be involved with more unexpected pleasures for other folks.

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