Free Gift with Purchase

The marketing concept of a "free gift" with purchase, has become a bit of a metaphor for unwanted and unasked for junk.  These free gifts are often useless clutter that nobody really wants, leaving us to question whether they ought to even be called gifts.  One has only to think of the happy meal toy to quickly realize that one could easily replace the word gift with landfill fodder.  Life gives us many "gifts" which we do not ask for, some that bring something of value to our lives, others which detract from our lives, and of course there is that proverbial clutter.  Thus, it seems inevitable that we will win some and lose some in the roulette game of life's free gifts.

"What on the surface many may perceive as a tragedy, may in actuality be neither good nor bad."

Alexia, who joined my nursing team in 2020, shared with me that she recently told a friend about her not so new job.  She was telling her friend that we typically get to chatting about a variety of subjects, oftentimes very random, while she is helping me prepare for bed.  She must have expressed some concern that it might be unwanted chatter distracting me from getting to sleep, because her friend compared her to a free gift with purchase.  She likened Alexia's chatter to the unwanted junk we get when we buy something, essentially saying that I wanted a nurse to help care for me and was saddled with excessive chatter.

I could write extensively about how much I appreciate Alexia, and the great sleep she helps me get with her top-notch nursing skills, but what is truly a gift worth having is Alexia in my life.  She has become a friend and confidant; we bonded over venting about COVID and pandemic related stress.  Our random forays into various wormholes are most entertaining, and a great way to break up the monotony that is unfortunately associated with life in lockdown.  Alexia started working here during the height of the pandemic, when people were unable to connect with old friends, let alone make new ones.  Hence the irony of Alexia's friend likening her to an unwanted gift.  Alexia brought more than just nursing coverage when she entered my life, I was also blessed with her friendship, and her magical touch.  The thing is, this is one of those gifts that I am exceedingly pleased with!

I never signed up to purchase a spinal cord injury, but the free gifts it has brought are more than a silver lining.

This thought that my nurse brings extra "gifts" besides the help in caring for me extends to the entirety of my care team.  These people come into my home and interact intimately with not only me, but my family as well.  They help ease the burden of my care, which is in and of itself of priceless value to my family and me, but they each bring something more—for the somethings more are as unique and varied as each individual nurse.  They are also a living embodiment of what a free gift with purchase ought to be.  Over the years I have often said that I am thankful for the good things that my accident has brought into my life.  Although until now I have never phrased it quite this way, there are many free gifts that I have only enjoyed as a direct result of something which on the surface seems a tragedy.  When contemplated more deeply, what on the surface many may perceive as a tragedy, may in actuality be neither good nor bad.  Perhaps the best way to describe the way I view my accident is as a tapestry of something far more intricate than a "good" or "bad" event, but something which is moving between the threads of both extremes.