A good reason to shop early

My best friend lives just outside Boulder, and so his family under siege by floodwaters. He is OK, and so is his immediate family. His wife's stepmother's (a woman he has longed liked and admired) is struggling because HER mother -- an Alzheimer's patient -- has been necessarily evacuated from her permanent care nursing home and the 80+ year old lady is angry and frightened, confused because she was in New Orleans when Katrina hit and is convinced she's going through that again.

As heartbreaking as that situation is, it's not his immediate household and so he knows, surrounded by devastation, that his family is overall very lucky.

It's just that today is his younger daughter's birthday and there are no gifts for her. No party. He's been

unable to even get to the drugstore, which probably isn't open anyway. He feels terrible (knowing him and his Eeyore tendencies, I bet he feels worse about this than she does).

My closet is always filled with Christmas and birthday presents. It's a habit I picked up from my mom. If you find the perfect gift for someone when you're on vacation, or when it's on sale, pick it up then and there, because you may not find anything so perfect (or so perfectly priced) again.

The unexpected downside to this habit is that I often find things in the closet after the holiday that I forgot to deliver. The upside is that, if heavy rains and deadly floods hit, I've got your birthday present!