Over the course of our lives, we all must have received gifts that overwhelmed us with their thoughtfulness, suitability, and timeliness.  One I received a couple years ago from Mr. wd qualified in the first two ways, but as to the third, please consider the implications of its irony as you read about what may end up being my favorite present ever.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=oAYiuFBqyLE]
(a vignette)

She sat on the bed in her sister’s room.  Linda had left for college a few weeks before, and she had finally been allowed to move into her large lavender room with the ruffled curtains framing the picture windows that looked out onto East Twin Lake. She watched the occasional Sailfish or Sunfish skimming along the glassy surface, carefree as the white geese who would beat their wings backwards floop, floop while they blew along the water hoping for a soft landing.

(a vignette)