Growing up poor, I was often sent to birthday parties without a gift, simply so I could have something to eat. In fifth grade, my friend\u2019s mom invited me to sleep over the night before her daughter\u2019s birthday. While her daughter was showering, she showed me the birthday toys and let me choose one to wrap and put my name on as a gift. I\u2019m 37 now, and I still remember that kindness with gratitude. It may have seemed like a small gesture to her, but it made a lifelong impact on me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Growing up poor, I was often sent to birthday parties without a gift, simply so I could have something to eat. In fifth grade, my friend\u2019s mom… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28072,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-story"],"yoast_head":"\n