My Medium Secret Santa

Surprises and kindnesses make days bright

’Tis the Season! And the cards are starting to arrive. At least cards from friends who are more organized than I am, because just today I started working on my cards.

I got a card last week, and another today. But the card I got today had an extra surprise in it.

A sheet of stamps!

From a Medium friend!

I’m not saying who it is, but she’ll know when she sees this.

Earlier, I’d posted a story where I talked about sending ‘Card of the Month’s to my friends. I was responding to a prompt that asked about three ways I share kindnesses with others. I mentioned my Card of the Month, that started as a Christmas gift and evolved into a much longer list through the years.

What I didn’t mention in the story was that I have three friends now that I’ve bumped up to Card of the Week. One longtime friend who is going through multiple severe health issues. Another friend that lost her husband in late May. And now a third friend, whose husband came home about six weeks ago from a rehab facility and is in a hospital bed, declining every day.

Rebecca can’t leave the house right now, except for two three-hour time slots, Monday morning and Friday afternoon, when a home health aide comes to the house so Rebecca can run to the store, schedule a doctor’s appointment, or run an errand. So, a few weeks ago, I told Rebecca that she got bumped up to weekly cards too, trying to brighten her world a little bit.

But back to Medium ….

My Secret Santa read this story, and then sent me a sheet of stamps in her Christmas card so I could brighten even more lives.

Thank you, Secret Santa!

And this…this is exactly the reason why I keep returning to Medium every day. Yes, the monthly deposits are nice. But when I look at the 3–4 hours a day I spend here, and then calculate it out as an hourly rate …. Well, let’s just say that there’s nowhere else that I’d work for that amount of money.

But I’ve discovered that the money is a minor reason why I keep showing up here.

It’s the people here.

The kind comments. The encouraging words. The support. The community.

The Medium community is truly something special and unique.

Thank you ALL for being part of my Medium life, and for bringing such joy to my days. It’s been a rough year for me, as you know from other things I’ve shared here. But every day I come back, and I have a whole realm of friends here that have helped me get through each day. The hugs and love I’ve gotten here from this community has truly been a balm to my soul.