Review by Jack Smith
During the holidays I tend to reflect on melancholy moments. I lost my mother several years ago and think of her often. Millie was an enigma wrapped in a riddle and in a very strange way reminds me of that great holiday story “The Gift of the Magi “ written by O. Henry in 1905. My mother believed that she had a manifest destiny to borrow (make that steal) items from her children if she thought that they would look better in her house.
I called my sister on a rainy Christmas day and asked what she was doing. She explained that she was in an upstairs bedroom watching our mother drag her coffee table down the driveway. I was treated to running commentary: “She’s got one end on the bumper,” then, “she’s got it in the trunk.” Several minutes later I received a call from my mother, “Honey, can you come over and help me get a piece of furniture out of my trunk? When asked where it came from, without hesitation she answered, “Your sister gave it to me for Christmas.” Sometimes an article would magically reappear, suggesting that she had found a better item for that space.
Several weeks later, she asked my wife if she could attend Mass with her. The priest asked the congregation to help with a special collection. A member’s child needed a very expensive electric wheelchair and when the collection plate was passed, my mother wrote a check for the entire amount. Hence my earlier comment about an enigma.
By now you are probably wondering what all of this has in common with the O. Henry short story. He tells the story of a newlywed couple without much money, who through sacrifice and selfless acts, manage to save their first Christmas. This story defines the term “irony “ and that love can be found in more than just material things. The couple, like so many of us, are living in the present and thinking about short term happiness. This story resonates with me as my mother read it to us every Christmas Eve.
