It’s my sister’s birthday soon, so here I am, as usual – wracking my brains to come up with something she doesn’t already have and that she’ll actually enjoy. We’ve just got different tastes. She was always the one asking for a bike pump or a some hi-tech hiking boots, while I campaigned for a guitar or a video game (neither of us wanted much to do with the designer make-up our aunts would send us from London).
Anyway, dad just told me that Janie wants a custom AFL net. Say what? I was just wondering where she was planning to put such a thing, when she messaged me to ask if I’d buy some tickets for her club’s fundraising raffle. The proceeds, it turns out, will be going towards new gear after a bunch of their stuff was lost in a clubhouse fire – their barrier nets included.
Dad then clarified his meaning, which was that I should make a donation to Janie’s AFL club, whether by buying a book of raffle tickets or otherwise. She seemed markedly bothered by their current dearth of equipment, he said. It’s not a bad idea, I suppose, if it really is something that Janie feels invested in.
In general, I prefer to give presents that have a bit more physical substance. It would be a more impressive gift if I could just get the thing myself, but then I wouldn’t know the first thing about buying sports netting. Melbourne, any ideas?
I know, I know… I should leave that to the club. I don’t want to buy the wrong size or whatnot. Besides, it’d be good for me to get comfortable with giving less physically substantial, but perhaps more meaningful, gift-giving. Having said that, if I were to give the club the money to buy the custom nets, then I suppose I would be gifting something fairly substantial, just in a roundabout way.
Okay, that’s sorted then. I wonder if they need a new set of goal posts as well?