The gift that keeps giving!

Recently I met up with an old college friend at a jazz evening. I sensed that she was not happy and the following day, as a concerned friend, I sent a short email. In her reply email she said "thank you for such a clear demonstration of true friendship."  This may sound silly, but that touched me and reminded me of something from 35 years ago. 


Around that time one of my first girlfriends gave me a key ring with a wooden tag and a motto pasted onto it. I used it a lot and when the motto fell off I kept it in my treasure box (yes, I have one) before putting it into a photo album some 15-20 years ago. I am not quite sure why, but it stayed with me and now I decided to scan the fragment and share it with my friend. You can see the result above. Pretty tatty, eh?

In truth the full quote is

“The most I can do for my friend is simply to be his friend. I have no wealth to bestow on him. If he knows that I am happy in loving him, he will want no other reward. Is not friendship divine in this?”

Henry David Thoreau quotes (American Essayist, Poet and Philosopher, 1817-1862)

but I think the essence is captured in the first sentence.

As I went to replace the piece into my photo album I noticed, for the first time in 35 years, that there was something on the back. At first I assumed it was glue marks as that was the side stuck to the wooden tag. When I looked more closely I saw this:

I had no idea there was anything on the back and neither I am sure did my ex-girlfriend. A google search shows this to be a piece by Susan Polis Schutz from a book entitled "I'm Not That Kind Of Girl" published in 1976.

The full text is actually

From "I'm Not That Kind of Girl, A Collection of Poetry"

Schutz, Susan Polis

I have no idea how I never saw this before, but in the end I have taken double if not treble pleasure. Once when I was first given the key ring, then in sharing it with my friend and then the unexpected discovery of more "hidden" meaning.

One might say it is a gift that keeps giving.

Footnote: It is interesting the number of internet users who claim to have written the Susan Polis Shutz piece! Plagiarism lives!