When is Third Number One?

On Christmas day, I received the third best gift possible.

If you had seen it, it wouldn’t have seemed as such. It wasn’t some fancy sport scar, trip to your dream location, or even a winning lottery ticket.  Nope, it was just an old action figure.

Specifically, it was a Mister Freeze figure from the Batman animated series.  It’s around 10-15 years old and still in its package.  Not even really a collector’s item.  But when I saw this, I broke down a little and teared up with gratitude.

You see, while there is no big demand for the figure, there is also not many of them to find easily.  I have been looking for some time for him- since I have always liked the character and the action feature this one had-and have never really had much luck acquiring him.  It was as more a joke than anything that I had put him on my wish list for Christmas.  Usually I just ask for gift cards, but I occasionally throw a ‘left field’ request in; a pony, a full sized drivable Back to the Future Delorean… or a Mister Freeze action figure.  I am always content with whatever I get, since I appreciate the thought.  Also, as I mentioned before, it’s more about what I can do for others than what is done for me.

But once in a great while it works in reverse.

It wasn’t the figure itself that caused the happy breakdown- it was what it represented.  It showed me that someone took a good amount of time and effort tracking this down for me.  It was someone really looking for something that was special.  It was someone looking beyond the easy and convenient to try for a bit more for this sad excuse for a human being. It was showing me that despite everything, people can and do pay attention to others, making the world- to me- a better place.

It was a renewal of the hope I sometimes find so lacking in myself.

So I thank you, Lois.  I don’t know if you knew how I felt receiving this.  Sometimes I have a hard time articulating thoughts when I am not being writing them down.  While I say this is the third best gift I could receive, this is not meant as an insult in any way.  Rather, since the two things I want more than anything this time of year (and most of my life in general) are impossible/improbable, it’s actually the main thing I want.  It was far better than I wished for, and possibly better than I deserved.

Not bad for an action figure, eh?