The Gift That Kept on Giving

To some people this might seem like an inappropriate story to tell at Christmas but it is about giving gifts of love. In our joy during the Christmas season, we sometimes lose sight of why God gave to us the best gift He had. He gave His son, not so we could have a time of celebration 2010 years later. He gave Him to die on a cross for our sins. I wonder if God cried that night at Bethlehem, knowing that His son was going to have to  die for us? His example of giving is one we need to follow this season. Give out of love.

The Gift that Kept Giving

Big Jon was a funny looking little homemade clown that Jason’s Gramma gave him the first time he went to the hospital. He was only three years and nine months old then. None of us knew how precious that gift was to become to that little boy.

Are you wondering how, with all of the magical toys available to children, a homemade clown could be special to a little boy who loved hot wheels, his tricycle and his sandbox? It is simple if you know anything about children who are very ill. Big Jon was that special squishy huggable friend that every small sick child has to have by his side.

            Big Jon always went to the hospital with Jason.  When Jason would get an IV or a lab test, Big Jon would get one too. Big Jon slept with him, ate with him, rode in the tricycle basket with him and threw sticks in the river with him. Big Jon was one of those friends who goes with you through the good and the bad things of life.

            In the eighteen months of Jason’s illness, he was in the hospital over 250 days. And Big Jon was with him every one of those days.

 When he was five, after eighteen months of chemotherapy, surgery, blood transfusions and all of the fear and pain that goes with that, his kind and gentle doctor sat down with him one day and began to talk to him. “Jason, how would you like to go home and not have to come back to the hospital for any more needles or medicine?”

“Okay,” he said, giving Big Jon a hug.

“This is what we’ll do. You take Big Jon, go home and play with him and your sisters. Your Mom and Dad will take care of you. You can come and see me once a week and we can just talk about what you have been doing.”

So that is what we did. Those days were special ones for all of us.

Two weeks later, Jason’s six year old cousin Mikey wanted to come and see him. We all knew that it would be the last time. The night before Mikey came, when Jason was in his bed he looked up at me and said, “Mom? Where is my Big Jon?”

Thinking that Big Jon had been temporarily displaced in the bedtime ritual, we looked around and found him. I tucked them both in, gave them both a kiss and said good night. Just as I was ready to turn the light off, Jason said, “Mom?”

“What Jason?”

“When Mikey comes tomorrow, I am going to give Big Jon to him”

My hand stopped on the light switch and it felt like a boulder had just been dumped into my chest. My heart began to ache and I had to think to breath. This was it. I knew it. This was Jason’s way of telling me something significant.

“Why, Jason? Why would you want to give Big Jon to Mikey? Big Jon is your friend.”

“Because I don’t need him anymore Mom, and Mikey does.”

“Why does Mikey need Big Jon?”

“Because Mom, he doesn’t have a dad, and he needs Big Jon.”  Mikey’s dad was killed in an auto accident before he was born.

“But Jason, you might need Big Jon too”

“No, Mom, I don’t need him anymore and I want Mikey to have him.”

That night after he was asleep, I did what any grieving mom would do. I slipped into his room, took Big Jon out of my little boy’s arms and hid him under the bed. After all, if my little boy was going to die, I would at least have Big Jon to get me through the grief filled days and nights ahead. I needed Big Jon.

The next morning, in the rush of getting ready for Mikey’s visit, Big Jon was forgotten. Or so I thought. The boys had a good time. Jason was tired so there was no strenuous play. They played with their hot wheels and painted some pictures for their moms.

Then it was time for Mikey to leave.

“Mom, where is my Big Jon?”

“He is around here somewhere Jason, we’ll find him later.”

“NO MOM, find him NOW.”

I had no choice, Big Jon belonged to Jason and he could give him to anyone he wanted.  “Okay, Jason lets find him. Maybe he fell under the bed when you were sleeping last night”

That moment will forever live in my mind and in my heart as I watched  my son give his friend Big Jon to his cousin who needed him. He knew that Mikey would love and take care of Big Jon for him.

            For Christmas, twenty one years after Jason gave Big Jon to Mikey, my sister in law handed me a gift wrapped package. From her mother’s heart, she said to me, “since Mikey got married this year, he doesn’t need this anymore and we thought you might like to have it.” Inside the box was Big Jon. He was a little more worn and had a few more stains on him, but Mikey had taken good care of him and now Big Jon was home.

Big Jon had been a gift of love from Gramma to Jason, from Jason to Mikey and from Mikey to me. It is a gift that makes me smile everytime I look at it. Gifts of love do that, so give one every chance you get.

© 2010 Brenda J.Young