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May Basket Memories

          I hope you had a marvelous May Day.  I must confess that I felt a little disappointment as I settled into my basement cubicle and noticed that there was no anonymously delivered May Basket awaiting my arrival.  It was entirely selfish of me to feel such disappointment.  I hadn’t prepared any May Baskets for any of my co-workers either.  To be sure the modern conveniences we enjoy today make our lives easier but occasionally I long for those simpler times of my youth.  I have fond memories of sneaking out of the house and delivering May Baskets to all of my friends around the neighborhood.  I suppose it would be impossible for that to happen these days unless you believed you might get the same warm feeling from sending your friends an unexpected text message as you walked out the door. 

            There was a bright spot in my May Day, however.  As part of my month end reporting duties I sent out a reminder to all of the branch managers where I work.  I started my email with, “I didn’t get a May Day basket from any of you but I won’t feel bad.  I suppose May Baskets are simply a fading tradition that still holds a warm spot in this old man’s heart…  It was about an hour later when the assistant manager in the building where my office is located showed up with a humongous hand-crafted May Basket complete with candy, post it notes, a pen and a coupon for a back massage from the creepy old guy that works in collections.  Each of the production employees had written a nice note on the basket and they even obtained a serendipitous signature from the courier that runs forms and supplies between our 13 locations.  It was an unexpected and very much appreciated surprise.

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