The Gift That Keeps On Giving

By Margaret -
We have a gift-giving tradition in our family: Instead of buying presents for each other on holidays, we give each other a guilt-free pass NOT to buy gifts. This may seem cold but my friends and family members who have adopted this method are grateful they have one less financial worry at Christmas. It's not that we don't ever buy each other gifts, we certainly do; we just don't do it when we're supposed to.

Unless Father's Day is around the corner and Dad actually needs underwear. This year Dad tells me he needs new boxers and wouldn't mind a Father's Day gift for a change. Dutifully, I wandered around town last week looking for a couple of bags of Fruit of the Loom boxers, medium sized and in dark colors. I was Fruitless in my quest. I could find boxer-briefs. I could find knit boxers. I could even find tighty-whities (except in white) but I could not find what my Dad wanted. Not even in Hanes or other brands. A quick look on the Internet was equally irritating. Search engines returned way more hits on "boxer briefs" than boxers. I couldn't just give up either. Can someone explain to me this dearth of underwear choices on Miami Beach? Do gay men only like jock straps or something?

I finally found the right pair at the Mom and Pop Hispanic clothing store I didn't think carried underwear. The old guy tells me that the young men are starting to buy boxers again. The lady says that my English is almost as good as my Spanish and wanted to know how long I'd been in the country. I was tempted to say that I hadn't realized I was in another country until I discovered the scarcity of boxer shorts but I let her show me some nice "imported from the USA" guayaberas instead. What a weird wonderful world.

Happy Father's Day to all the Daddies out there.

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