This is Part 4 of my 7-day personal challenge. If you're just seeing this now, you can check my previous posts:
When I care about someone, I spend time creating things with them in mind. It’s my way of hoping that the things I’ve made would make them smile. Hoping that they’ll remember how much I thought about them. Somewhere in their memories, I’ll leave small prints of me.
Shae was the type of person who doesn't know what to do with the gifts she receives sometimes. On the contrary, I was the type who’d get my hands dirty just to create something so I could give it as a present. Even though I am not a highly creative person, I still prefer making gifts rather than buying them.
The first time I met Shae, I gave her a stuffed toy of her favorite animal. I told her to call it “Puppy” since I thought she’d be reminded of me because she called me that once. Good thing I got her a smol fluffball. I felt that anything bigger than that she’d probably decline it. Unfortunately, our first meeting was very sudden so I bought her this gift instead of giving her something I made. Even though it was store-bought, I went to several stores just to find her favorite stuffed animal. It was kinda weird though, I thought they were popular animal toys but I guess I was wrong.
I hope Puppy will continue on keeping her company. I hope Puppy stays in her pillow wall of plushies.
The second time we met was the weekend before Valentine’s day. I gave her a small card similar to Arc’s. I used a line-less index card and a writing pen. I was kinda skeptical about this because I am very shy of my handwriting. I mean, it’s u-g-l-y but yeah, I tried. I am also not very good at drawing (qnq) but you know how sometimes ugly drawings look cute just because? Yeah, mine’s like that.
Here is Arc’s card as reference. I will not disclose the writings in Shae’s card just 'cus ehe
For the third time we met, I didn’t make her any gifts. Instead, I made her an English breakfast of pancakes, spicy sausages, bacon, Gordon Ramsey style scrambled eggs, and a cup of coffee which I hand-pressed using a manual espresso pump. She didn’t finish everything since I still couldn’t estimate how much her tiny body consumed. She also didn’t touch the scrambled eggs. I wasn’t aware that she only likes sunny side ups with crispy edges. (facepalm)
I recall taking a photo of her breakfast but I guess I’ve already deleted almost every photo I have related to her.
The fourth time we met. I was prepared. I booked our reservations 2 weeks in advance and made an itinerary. For this meeting, I made her a bookmark. Shae liked reading books too so I mentioned that I was reading a book titled “Ego is the Enemy”. She told me that it's one of the titles in her to-read list. So I told her once I’m done with it, I’ll lend it to her.
I've decided to lend her the book with a small gift. A bookmark which I made from scratch.
I picked a flower from our garden. I kinda want it to resemble a tree because Shae liked nature too.
I had the flower in between a book for several days, to flatten and dry properly.
Using watercolors, I painted a sky scene since she liked looking at the sky too. I used different shades of blue but it turned out plain haha
Once the watercolors dried, I went out with Arc to have it laminated.
And tadaaa~! A simple bookmark. I signed it at the back.
“With saktong love, Carl.”
Did I mention that cooking was also one of my love languages? I recall Shae telling me before that she loved sopas. So one time when she said she wanted some merienda, I decided that I would make her something. During that time, the ingredients we had in our pantry was enough to make some sopas. I was confident in my sopas cooking skills but somehow I felt nervous that the girl I like would be eating it. I mean, what if it wasn’t up to her standards, right? What if I give her an upset stomach?
After I finished cooking, we both tried booking in a delivery app to have it sent to her. Sadly, no one accepted the order and if there was any, they’d cancel it. I made the decision to just go where we usually meet and deliver it to her personally.
Shae told me that she didn’t know that sopas with egg was good too. Apparently, that was the first time she tried it with eggs in it.
Rating by Shae: 10/10
Didn’t ask for the specifics because I knew she’d just say “masarap naman”
This is how I usually convey my feelings for a person. My thoughts as I was making these things are parts of the memories I cherish. Doing things for people I care about makes me happy.
How about you? What do you do to make the people important to you happy?
Background photo from Bruno Scramgnon. Banner created on Canva.
