What do you give someone who has everything?

It’s been quite a while since I was asked if I would help make someone jealous, let a loan be a gift. I rather like the idea of being hired as a gift. It lets me know that while I may not turn heads the way I use to, I can help someone else turn a head or two. A few weeks ago I got a call from my friend Joyce asking me what my plans were for this past weekend? With Joyce you learn over the years not to ask too many questions because that just slows the flow of information streaming through her brain. If computers were the extension of the human mind, then Joyce is the starting point the computer’s use for speed. After telling her I had nothing that I couldn’t change, I asked “why, what’s up”? She said “I’ll call you back”. Within what seemed seconds, she was back on the phone asking if I wanted to fly back to New York with her after we finished a re shoot on a past job. Being the Gemini that I am, I had to ask at least the basics. Seemed she and her husband Frank were going to a 50th wedding anniversary. Frank had the clever idea that I should be the gift. What does one give to a couple married 50 years? What else could you possibly need? In the case of my parents, my Mom wanted an electric tea pot. Simple. Easy. Of course not what she ended up with, but that’s a different story. So I became the gift. I packed up my lotions, potions, travel size of course) lipstick, an eye lash curler and one or two other secrets, booked a flight then waited. “How did you get all this through the airport security” I was asked as I was unpacking my wears. “Easy. I went to a female scanner. If she couldn’t tell the difference between a lip brush and a hair brush, then I would teach her. Thankfully I heard, have a nice flight as I grabbed my bag and shoes.” As Joyce and I arrived at the hotel where I the couple were staying, it struck me that in all the years she and I have been together, through all the crazy antics, that only Lucy and Ethel could appreciate we were on time. Even the prior romp through Bloomingdale’s followed by a $15.00 hot dog that yes, was delicious, we were still on time. You have to understand, in the five years I lived in New York I can’t tell you once when I was on time. Joyce commented years later that after moving to Florida I became a stickler for punctuality. While the small talk was taking place, I went about rearranging the room to better work. It’s a habit that some of my friends and I have about redoing hotel rooms to better suit our needs. Just ask my friends Tony and John about the Sheraton in Phenix. Of course the Walnut Street Inn in Philadelphia was more of an abortion which nothing short of demolition could help. And I have the pictures to prove it. As I started to work my magic both with my creams and lashes, I could feel the pride coming from this woman’s husband as he watched from a far seeing the young girl he married some 50 years ago. I knew I was the perfect gift at that moment. You see I have a knack for bringing out the very best of you. So on this night, in front of friends, family and her life long partner, she was a glow. Just as she was the day they married all those years ago. R-

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