THE RIGHT GIFT TELLS A STORY

What does Emily Dickinson, bread, the 1865 Cattle Show, and Taylor Swift have to do with gifting?

Along with 28 million+ of you, I watched Taylor Swift on the New Heights podcast express her undying love for Travis, music, her new album AND baking sourdough bread. As a gifter, my mind immediately began to wander: what would one gift her?

Here’s where the story leads…

It turns out Taylor is related to Emily Dickinson — another woman known for her words and her baking. Dickinson was once awarded second prize for her round loaf of rye and Indian bread at the Amherst Cattle Show of 1856.

Imagine gifting Taylor a keepsake from that very fair — a tangible link between two women, generations apart, united by words, music, and bread. (Though I wouldn’t be surprised if she already owns one.)

And if we follow this trail even further? Margaret Atwood wrote a remarkable poem about bread — reminding us that sometimes the most everyday things carry the most profound stories.

That is the art of gifting. Not just an object, but a connection — between past and present, between passion and meaning.