By Beth
This one is going back quite a bit in my memory. It was one of the first things we did in the Year of the Birthday and my memory is not as strong as Lara's. You'll have to bear with me, I may embellish a bit! But, honestly, it's probably good that I waited so long to write about this event; gave me a chance to see how those who found the random gifts responded.
Who doesn't like getting presents? And who wouldn't find an anonymous, though tasteful, gift intriguing? Who left it? Do I have a secret admirer? Are they watching me right now? How do I look? Do they see the lettuce in my teeth? Or is it a secret message from the CIA or Her Majesty's Secret Service, requesting immediate dangerous action on our part? You know if either Lara or I were to receive such a gift we would create an elaborate story involving monkeys, glitter, secret weapons made from lipstick tubes and dashing, British spies. The thinking behind leaving random gifts on doorsteps was just that: people would wonder and imagine similar storylines. We're all about using our imagination, Lara and I. We were also hoping to hear about the reactions of the recipients, so we chose people we (mainly I) would have some interaction with after the fact.
I selected three people to receive our gifts - small, bird Christmas ornaments. It was a dark winter's night, my birthday, when we set out. Our first stop was the home of my children's former violin/piano teacher. Very easy to sneak in and out and leave something on the steps. No problem there. Since I was driving, Lara was the delivery girl. Giggling and picture snapping commenced. We moved on.
Stop two was difficult. A former babysitter/missions trip partner who didn't really have a driveway. We circled the block once or five times and finally found mailboxes. We could see her and her roommate through the window and we didn't want to risk being seen so in the mailbox it went. Lara had to open the car door to get to the mailbox. She'll tell you some crazy story about me starting to drive away while her foot was still on the road, out of the car. Total lie. We moved on.
Last stop, a friend from my small group at church. This proved the most entertaining. I should note that my sense of direction is quite fallible. But for the most part, if I've been somewhere once, I can get there again. Problem is, as the beginning of this article states, it was a dark, winter night. My friend lives in a townhouse community where all the houses look the same. We pulled into the right parking lot and I directed Lara to what house I thought belonged to my friend. She came running back a few seconds later. "Does she have a dog?" "Uh…no" "DRIVE!!!"
I found out later that the violin teacher had moved before we left the gift. Hope the new tenant liked the gift and made up an extravagant story behind it. The former babysitter/missions partner doesn't remember getting anything but her former roommate might. I haven't asked yet. Turns out we left the third gift at the wrong house and it caused quite a stir in the neighborhood. Seems there had been a little feud going on about the woman feeding birds and when she saw the small, bird ornament she took it as a rude joke. I solved the mystery months later but still have not met the woman who we caused more stress for!
So other than the last stop, not much in the way of reactions. We had planned to do a Maryland version, probably so Lara can "get me back" for driving off without her leg (which totally didn't happen), but it hasn't happened yet. I'd watch your doorsteps if I were you if you live anywhere near Lara!
[Editor's Note: Be sure to go check out Lara's
version of YOB: #3 Leave Random Gifts on Doorsteps.]