I'm not anywhere near my birthday. But I was thinking the other day about one of the best gifts I ever received. First though I have to give you some back story.
At the time of my birthday I had a crazy, huge crush on a boy named Josh that lived up the street from me. I was not alone, I believe at any one time he had five or six girls swooning over him. In retrospect I'm not sure why. He wasn't particularly cute, smart or funny. I digress. Anyway, Josh didn't like me. I think, at best, he had a tolerance for me. He knew I liked him (high school girls can't keep secrets) and it was inevitable that he was around me occasionally as we had a few mutual friends.
I was out of town on my 17th birthday (which is itself a whole story) and thus did not get to celebrate with my friends. I have a summer birthday and this seemed very unfair to me. However, I had sweet friends that didn't forget my birthday and wanted to do something special. Upon my return they gave me a few gifts. I'll be honest, I only remember one thing they gave me but it was awesome, especially for a 17 year-old with a serious crush. Are you ready?
Ready?
It was a videotape.
My friends Lisa and Kelly gave me a videotape and insisted I had to watch it right away. So I popped it in and started watching. I don't remember everything but part of the video involved them driving around with their windshield wipers on and no rain (we thought this was hysterial) and them getting my friends to wish me a happy birthday. The best, BEST part though was at the end. The camera view changed to night vision and there was a view of a house. I don't remember all the details but it basically involved them crawling around Josh's front yard. I think they made him say HI and HAPPY BIRTHDAY too, which made it pretty much the best gift ever.
So that's the story of the best gift ever. I outgrew my crush and Josh and his family moved away. Lisa, Kelly and I all went off to college and Lisa and I got married. No one has ever given me a gift like that again though. I still have the tape but alas, no longer a VCR. Maybe VHS will make a comeback though.
3 comments:
omigod.... i remember this video... and that was the summer that all of us were out of the country!! good times!!
Wow! I had totally forgotten about that until you just reminded me. I can't believe it's still your favorite gift ever. That makes me feel good! You have no idea how much I would love to watch that video right now. I have a VCR; come fly down here and we'll watch it together. I'll buy some popcorn.
That's also really strange because I was thinking about Josh and his family just the other day, wondering whatever happened to him. I can't believe it's been almost 10 years since Travis died . . . anyway, it was crazy to read this blog. Brings back so many memories!
P.S. What is Kelly up to these days?
The last I heard, Josh had a baby and was living in Oregon near his mom and stepdad. It is weird how fast time goes by, it seems like just yesterday we were drinking Jamba Juice and driving around.
Speaking of Jamba Juice, if you get the popcorn I'll pick up whichever smoothie you want. We can watch that video and be nostalgic.
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