The gift within the gift

My dear friend who was sick, and now is well has gone with her partner on a short, well needed vacation.  They asked me to look out for their house, and also check in on their elderly neighbor.  I was glad to do it, they have been such good friends to me and have made so much joy in my life.  So, I go each day and take care of things.  One of the perks is that they live near the woods, so I get to go for a beautiful walk every day.  The other is that I get to spend time with this neighbor.  One day, I noticed a beautiful painting in his house.  It was made of Japanese characters.  Have you ever seen brush painting?  It is more than beautiful.  He was sad because it had belonged to his mother and she didn't know what it said.  I had the idea to take a picture of it and take that to a near-by Japanese College to see if they could help us.  I met two of the most wonderful women in the Culture Center.  I got to speak with the director of the center and she spent over an hour deciphering this writing, and who had written it.  She even printed out information about the person, so I could take it to my friend, who was overjoyed!  My point is this: we never know what is going to be a gift to us.  If we are fortunate, sometimes there is a gift inside that gift.  All this has made my day and my week.  Make a ripple, pass it on, see what happens.