Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Gratitude, and the Social Graces

I was going to talk about molded-on tack and the Quarter Horse Gelding today, but since another matter came up in comments of my semi-annual "poor-pitiful-me" post, I will address that instead, before it becomes something it isn’t.

Yes, by some very odd circumstances, I did end up with two Diamond Jubilees. A very dear friend offered to get me one from one of her local stores, and I accepted. There was a gap in our communications over the matter, and for a period of a few days I assumed that something had gone awry with the deal.

In that brief interregnum, another dear person offered to get me a Diamond Jubilee, and fearing the first had been lost, I also accepted her offer. As you may know, my personal life experiences have taught me that back-up plans are a very, very good thing. I didn’t want to turn down the second offer, because I felt if I did, that would guarantee the first deal would collapse as well.

(That’s just how my life seems to work. That’s also how I ended up in the financial situation I’m in right now, but that’s not something I'm going to discuss here.)

The second Jubilee will be going to another good friend and customer who had also experienced a great deal of difficulty in acquiring a Diamond Jubilee. Part of my motivation for looking for a Diamond Jubilee was to find him one, too: on more than one occasion, his generous purchases have gotten me through some tough times. I wanted to find him one as an expression of gratitude on my part for being such a great customer.

As for gratitude, I must confess that I am very, very bad at the social graces of giving and receiving it. Wherever the blame lies - in nature, or nurture - it’s irrelevant. I acknowledge it as a personal failing, and I’ve spent a great deal of time in trying to overcome it. If I have failed to acknowledge my gratitude to any one of you, please know that no personal slights were intended. I am grateful - very grateful - for everything the hobby has given me. I just have a very hard time saying so, sometimes.

I had some reservations about making the Liminality post, but in the end I decided to click "Post" because I knew that some of my fellow hobbyists could sympathize with my plight. The hobby, as an entity itself, is not real good at acknowledging or validating the contributions of its members, except (in so many cases) after they’re quite literally gone.

And should be it for the mopey-dopeyness, until my annual "they rejected my BreyerFest Volunteer Application, again," post in late May.

2 comments:

Julie said...

Thanks for clearing up the confusion. :) Diamond Jubilee is just lovely in person.
As for the hobby, do what makes you happy. Don't worry what others have to say. I love some of the "unpopular" molds and really don't care what anyone says. One of my favorites, the Breyer Zebra. :3

As for Volunteering at BF, it's tough. I've applied before and also been rejected. You know what? I'm still gonna try again this year. Even if I don't get it I will still go to BF and have a great time. Also I wish you good luck for applying.

Suzanne said...

I had to laugh...I had a vaguely similar experience, only it was driven by my twin weaknesses, guilt, and poor communication skills. (I was in Arthur Dent mode I suppose.)

When the buckskin Fury Prancer & rider appeared, I promptly placed an order at the local toy store. The next time I dropped in, there was the Fury, on the shelf with the other Breyers. I bought him, didn’t say much to the cashier...I figured they had forgotten or lost my contact information. A couple days later I got the call...and I went ahead and bought tbe second Prancer, despite how ilogical this was!t