One of the best gifts I’ve ever received was a losing lottery ticket. My brother bought it for me. I realize that doesn’t sound like a great gift, since it only cost a dollar, and it lost. But the way he did it was pure evil genius.
No one wants to buy a winning lottery ticket for someone else. You’d bang your head on the wall for the rest of your life, yelling “WHY OH WHY DIDN’T I KEEP THAT ONE??? WHAAAWHAAAAWHAAAA!!!” That’s bad for the wall.
My brother solved that problem by buying for himself two additional lottery tickets with the same numbers as the one he got for me. He explained that in case my ticket won, he wanted to be twice as rich. It’s the thought that counts.
That happened years ago. Since then, I’ve told that story about a hundred times, always to good effect. Now it’s a blog entry on a day when I had no other ideas. It’s the gift that keeps on giving. Almost every other gift I’ve gotten has been worn out, outgrown, used up, lost, broken, stolen, or thrown away. But the lottery ticket story keeps on chugging along.
In its own way, it was the most thoughtful gift I’ve ever received.
What’s the best gift you ever got or gave? Bonus points if it makes me cry.