Friendship in all forms - including purple snuggies

By Paige Ryland, 365 Days of Service, Cassia Branch

Every year, the organization I work for holds a white elephant gift exchange for our staff and volunteers. It can be a cut throat game when gifts are stolen and people end up with unwanted items. This year, I knew which item I was after as soon as it was opened: a purple snuggie. When it was finally my turn, I took it from the person who had originally opened it and gave a brief speech about how I had wanted a snuggie, particularly a purple one, for about 2 years, and how I hoped no one would steal it from me. I was shocked and a little saddened when a short time later the snuggie was stolen from me by a nice lady named Tina. Because I was allowed to pick another gift, I opted for a mustache mug and soon forgot all about it as I was still dreaming about the snuggie.  That's just how the game goes. Luckily, I had some alliances with good friends and the snuggie was rescued for me after some time. All seemed well until the same amazing friend who had rescued the snuggie had her choice gift, a book and cookies, stolen from her. In a move that will surely go down in history, my mustache mug (the one I had forgotten about) was stolen from me and it was my turn to pick a gift yet again. Without hesitating I jumped up and stole back the book and cookies and gave them to my friend. I'd never seen people so excited about stealing; we were given a standing ovation for our efforts to get each other the gifts we were after. Although the game doesn't seem so kind and, indeed, is not the friendship involved in generating such an outcome is. Without even communicating with each other we shared the common goal of ensuring one another's happiness. As friends we are dedicated to the service of each other and that night not only did we succeed in doing just that, we succeeded in demonstrating to the cheering crowd just what the power of friendship is all about.