Receiving Gifts

I've still been thinking about the same thing today, and I realized something fairly profound specifically in my relationship with my mother. She likes to get gifts. She likes to be appreciated for the material blessings she gives to others, and there is nothing wrong with that. The problem is gifts don't mean a whole lot to me. As I've been saying, I'm a minimalist, and material things really don't mean much to me. If you've ever read the book "The Five Love Languages" then you know exactly what I'm talking about. If you haven't, I highly recommend you read it, it will help you understand others and yourself much better in terms of how you express and interpret love. I'm a person that feels love best through quality time. The more time I spend with you, the more appreciative of our relationship I am and the more I feel loved. Thats probably why right now I feel very close to my good friend Jake whom I've been running with at least once a week since I came home to California.