When a Mango Is not just a Mango!!

Have you ever found yourself taking a gift just to please someone?   Maybe a better question might be, who hasn’t?  Makes me wonder how many things were given as gifts and then passed on to others?  This number must be high, as high percentages go, because I have been gifted with clothing that obviously didn’t fit the person who gave them to me.   It is not just clothing. There have been cooking items and books and food dryers and brand new shoes.

What have you taken just to please someone?  Perhaps you didn’t want to argue or disappoint someone?  Was it easier than picking a fight or risk a conversation?  Were you gracious and said “thank you?”

I confess that today I said “yes” when I wanted to say “no thank you.”  It was innocent and it wasn’t very big.  It was three mangoes.  I didn’t want them because they may have been sprayed and because of the sugar content.  I couldn’t say NO.  It was her way of giving back for all the rides to the hospital to visit her brother.

The ride was not much of an inconvenience.  It was a five-minute car ride.  Lina lives across the street which makes it very easy to  back out the car and pull into her driveway.  The ride two weeks ago,was the last ride.  Lina’s brother passed away the day after I dropped her off for a visit and took her home three hours later.   Lina was exhausted and it showed in the heaviness of her walk and the somber look on her face.  She had seen Nando, her brother, who lived with her for more than forty years, decline over a six month period.  Now he would need more care than she could provide.   Something or someone intervened or brother Nando decided that it was time to go, and he passed away just minutes before an ambulance arrived at the hospital to take him to a nearby convalescent home.

Lina and I had no way of knowing that there would be no more rides to the hospital.  This would be our last trip.  Lina may remember that I took her to the hospital so that she wouldn’t have to call a taxi.  I will remember that she remembered that I like mangoes and she picked three from her tree and brought them to me.