The Joy of Being "Known"

 Yesterday, I received a cheesy gold frame in the mail. It was in an Amazon box, but there was no packing slip or information as to who may have sent it. In the frame was a picture of an All American Family. Still wasn't ringing any bells for me. Oh well. I just set it aside in my pile of, "I'll figure this out later," stuff.

Last night the doorbell rang. It was our kids. They don't normally come visiting unannounced, but here they were. Jimmy, my son-in-love, seemed very excited to be here. I didn't notice it at first, because they brought my ever-excited grand pups with them. As soon as everyone was settled, Jimmy asked me if I received anything in the mail today. What? Someone knew about my weird delivery???

"Yes, yes I did." I exclaimed. "How did you know?"

"Here, this goes with it." He said as he handed me a large envelope.

It would serve you well, at this point, to tell you that Jimmy carries the most unusual sense of humor in our family. Just to give you an example, we recently took a family photo while in California. Jimmy wasn't with us, but that didn't prevent him from photo-shopping himself into our shenanigans:  

Back to the living room... I went ahead an opened the envelope Jimmy handed me. Inside was an 8x10 glossy of Tom Jones. Jimmy knew that I had been requesting a Tom Jones playlist when the four of us traveled together (much to my daughter's dismay, because she isn't a fan). You see, I was having a very emotional time this holiday season. I had recently lost my father to leukemia. In fact, the above picture was taken when I traveled to California to bury him. My Mom had already made the transition to heaven a few years before my Dad. During this season, I was really missing them both. One of my favorite memories was coming home after school and seeing Mom sitting on the couch watching This is Tom Jones on T.V. while folding laundry. Jimmy had heard this story several times and decided to take it to the next level as comic relief this season. 

Today, Ol' Tom sits on a forgotten shelf in our living room where everyone can see him. I wonder if he has any way of knowing the joy he brings to people like us during the Christmas season? I wonder if Jimmy knows the joy he brings to our family each and every day?