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Sunday, September 4, 2022

A Memorable Gift:


 Everyone if they are honest will admit to having that 'one special gift' they received for either a birthday or Christmas, a young person coming of age or some other special occasion. In the photo above is a hand that is crimpled from disabling arthritis. This plays right into one of my special gifts almost 40 years ago. 

To understand how the gift came my way - first it is important to set the stage. I had been propelled up the insurance business from a young adjuster to a branch supervisor, to claim manager, to regional supervisor of four southern states. Along the way I was missing what I enjoyed best about my chosen profession, that being meeting and working with our insureds when they faced some crisis. 

I did something unheard of and that was to toss all those impressive jobs away and I went back to being a field adjuster. Something not done in those days if you wanted to maintain employment. It was a poor career decision. My qualifications made it hard to refuse me so I went back to where I started in the profession. That is how I met Elizabeth Jones. 

Elizabeth was elderly and had to have help to maintain her home. She had a maid that slipped on a step and broke her arm. Elizabeth reported the accident to us and I handled the medical bill for her maid. Over the weeks where i stopped to pick up the bills I came to know both Elizabeth and her maid  which is why I went back to being an adjuster my real love. 

There came a day just before Christmas when I paid the last of the medical bills and as I was getting ready to leave Elizbeth asked her maid to get a plate full of cookies and glass of milk and took me into her parlor where she had a baby grand piano. Her fingers were twisted in all directions and obviously very painful. Elizabeth sat down at her piano and played several Christmas songs  while I ate cookies and drank milk with her twisted and painful fingers. She played flawlessly and I realized I was getting a very special gift. 

That was a gift that I will never forget. It is still as clear to me today as it was those 40 years ago. I think of it often and it still brings happy tears to my eyes. 

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2 comments:

David said...

That’s beautiful! Thanks for sharing.

Karen Zilverberg said...

Thanks for sharing this beautiful event!