returning the favor

Every single one of your comments on yesterday's post has meant so much to me. Thank you, ladies, for taking the time to offer support and good wishes. Meg, girl, you're so right. No one tells you how hard marriage really is. (And what's up with that?) It's wonderful, too. But boy, it can be something on the scale of life's bigger challenges.

I have so much packing to do and y'all know what most of it consists of. Books. Yarn. Fabric. Sewing machines. I knew this day of reckoning would come. I have to take some to my friend's place, and some to storage. Instead of feeling like a big ol' greedy pig, I am thinking of the message in the sand, "GOD WER BLESSED." We are. I am blessed with an abundance of things I love, and between that sandy reminder and your sweet comments, I see that I am due for giving something back.

Seems like a thousand moons ago, but it was only back in January. I left a comment on one of yaiAnn's posts and won a present to be made by her and given sometime this year as part of the Pay It Forward Exchange. One of the rules of entering was that I, too, would give away some no-strings-attached gifts on my blog. Here's the fine print, lifted from yaiAnn, and originated by I can't figure out who:

It's the Pay It Forward Exchange, based on the concept of the movie "Pay it Forward" where acts or deeds of kindness are done without expecting something in return... just passing it on, with hope that the recipients of the acts of kindness continue to pass it along as well. Here's how it works: I will make and send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment to this post on my blog requesting to join this exchange. I do not know what that gift will be yet, and it won't be sent this month, probably not next month, but it will be sent (within 6 months) and that's a promise! What YOU have to do in return, then, is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.

I've got a gift list coming out of my wazoo, so I'll be exercising the option of giving either purchased or handmade gifts to three people, one of whom I've already chosen (and she doesn't have to pay it forward unless she wants to, sez me). For the other two, I'm thinking of two numbers. Leave a comment, and if your comment number is one of the two, I'll send you a gift (within a couple of months). I guarantee cuteness in whatever I send, and all you gotta do is say you want some. I'll leave the comments open for entries until Friday evening.

Again, thank you in-the-flesh friends and blog friends alike -- there are no strangers here. :)