How expectations can lead to disappointment

As the icicles dangling from the gutter get longer, more snow arrives - another inch or so joining the snow still lying around from last week's blizzard conditions.

Lately I've been thinking about how my own expectations sometimes lead to disappointment. Here's a f'rinstance: when a friend came out of hospital and was open to receiving some practical help, I took round a couple of meals from my freezer. These were home-cooked meals catering to the different dietary requirements of the family, in containers suitable for microwaving, and in addition I supplied baking potatoes (raw). Now normally, when I've supplied meals for friends in need in the past, I've driven round and delivered them at dinner-time already hot and ready to eat. On this occasion with the roads in the condition they are and the fact that I was going out for the evening, it was more convenient to me to walk round whilst it was still light and leave it to my friend and her family to bake the potatoes and reheat the meals. It didn't occur to me until later that this might have disappointed my friend's expectations, and only then because I realised that I had anticipated a text or email thanking me for the meal and complimenting me on my cooking, and been disappointed when no such message arrived. It was interesting observing the way my thoughts went, thinking about the idea of 'non-attachment' and wondering if a gift is given in expectation of receiving gratitude, can it really be considered a gift, or does it become a trade?

PS The message of grateful thanks arrived later, after I'd written this post.