Sometimes it is the simplest

gifts which bring the most joy

on Christmas day.

I can attest to that, even more than a week past Christmas.

For Christmas I received cookies, candy and hot sauce to slather on my food. I was given processed meat links to munch between meals and books to occupy my time. 

And due to an illness I have presents that I have not opened at this writing. 

But one of my favorite gifts was a simple piece of paper with black and white lines.

My nephew, Macai, was among my pre-Christmas visitors. 

“Uncle Tim, do you want a picture of me?” four-year-old Macai asked. 

It seems one of Macai’s gifts was a little camera which captures an image and prints it out in black and white. 

Macai had a small piece of paper in his little hand. He smiled as he handed it to

me. 

The paper contained a picture of Mackie (my nickname for him). He has a beautiful smile, which I love. The smile was captured in the picture. 

I was also give a picture of Mackie with his two older cousins, my nieces, Adah and Anaya. I loved that one too.

Let me step back a bit.

I’ve been a bit lonely lately. In September I almost died. I was found not breathing and I turned blue. 

My brother David, a paramedic, was called. He beat the Akron Fire medics to my house and attempted mouth-to-mouth. 

He could not get me

to breathe. 

A few minutes later Akron Fire medics arrived and tried to bag me, which forced air into my lungs.

I still could not breathe on my own. Intensive care doctors placed me on a ventilator for 10 days. 

 I was in the hospital for two months. And I’ve been in rehab the last month trying to build up my leg muscles so I can walk again. It has been a lonely process. 

Due to spreading viruses and colds, my family has not been

able to visit on a regular basis. Thus the loneliness.

However I’ve found a way to fight the loneliness. When I begin to feel down I break out the little piece of paper given to me a few days before Christmas and I smile. 

This is not a Christmas column. This is a column about a simple gift, given to an uncle, by a four-year-old angel and his cousins. 

It is the simplest gifts that often mean the most. We should all remember that. 

I know I’m going to try.

Thank you Mackie, Adah and Anaya. I love you guys.