Day 90, 100 Happy Days: A Surprise Big Little Gift

I walked into my studio today to find a little black pouch and a note. Inside the pouch was a bobby-pin with my name on it. Well... my nick-name.

First of all, how awesome is it to get a surprise gift? And it's kind of exciting to get to have something with my name on it (people with unusual names might relate to that). But it so happens that this little gift had big meaning (unbeknownst by the gift giver).

Tab is short for Tabetha, and mostly my family and old friends call me Tab. I hadn't realized how I had gotten used to not hearing it until a couple of weeks ago. I was in the back room of my studio, and the person who was there with me (not family or old friend), called from the front of the studio "Hey, Tab?" And suddenly I burst into tears. 

In recent years, my connection to Tab was my mom. We lived together, and when you live with someone, I think you're more likely to hear your name. I live alone, work (mainly) alone, and I rarely talk on the phone. So I may see Tab in texts and emails, but it's different than hearing it. Hearing the familiar version of my name was great that day, but it made me realize how much I missed hearing it, and how many of the people who called me that are gone.

So, this little bobby pin is a reminder that the people who call me Tab are not dwindling, as I previously thought. They are growing. I have once new friends who are now becoming old friends, and that makes me happy.