I posted this little teaser on my Facebook account, just a photo of this little present.

“What is it? Pray do tell!” My friends were agog with curiosity.

Which got me thinking, what is the most important gift?

When I was ill, my aunt’s daughter Carlie told me a beautiful story of two souls, which I have quoted many times since. The most important – and the loveliest – gift of all is forgiveness.

Forgiveness comes in the aftermath of pain or betrayal, but when you finally forgive someone and let go of the past, you move to a much better, light-filled space, where you are meant to be. If something is taken away from you, perhaps it is to make way for something else to come. But how to forgive?

Many years ago, on a chilly December night in Milan by the Duomo, I had a beautiful conversation with a very dear friend who remains very special to me. We had just come out of a bookshop where I bought a Laura Pausini CD.

He is a deeply introspective man whom his colleagues nickname “The Professor” and we often talk about life. Somehow, on that particular evening, our conversation led to why we met, under the most improbable situation, on a remote Indonesian island in the middle of the Javanese sea. He changed my life, and I went back to being more focused on my career (encouraged and motivated by him) before taking a long break to be a full-time mother.

We meet someone for a reason, a season or a lifetime.

Not everyone is here to stay forever, but each brings an intrinsic value (learning experience!) to our lives. Perhaps thinking about this facilitates the forgiveness process ❤ Happy Christmas ❤

Note: it was a light-hearted present inside that hastily wrapped package 🙂