Sometimes the best gifts are those you can’t physically touch.

Two days after moving into my downtown home, I heard the doorbell ring. The man at the door was Reverend Sam Godfrey, who said he was from Christ Episcopal Church, that he noticed our moving truck and brought us some homemade bread and gumbo.

Tom Pharr, another downtown resident and Vicksburg cheerleader, came over a couple weekends ago with two titles from Lorelei Books. One details Vicksburg’s history and the other is a photo book with some of the most magnificent pictures of military park sculptures I have ever seen.

And my third full day at The Post, the intercom rang that I had a visitor. When I walked to the lobby, I could not tell who it was until Debora Kinnebrew introduced herself behind a very large gift basket. She is a volunteer, who was there to formally welcome me from the Vicksburg-Warren County Chamber of Commerce.

How does a loaf of bread, a pot of gumbo, coffee table books and a gift basket fit into an “intangible” category?

The visits from Godfrey, Pharr and Kinnebrew meant more than the tangible items they came with. They show what a welcoming community Vicksburg is.

It certainly felt that way two Saturdays ago when I walked downtown to buy some baked goods from Just Dessert’s Heather Burns. The moment I opened Highway 61 Coffehouse’s doors, a table of three men in front of me automatically said hello. I didn’t know who they were, but suddenly this newcomer got the feeling she had a couple friends at the downtown coffee shop.

As one who has moved five times in the last four years, that is something special to the Vicksburg community.

Why is the old saying “it’s the thought that counts” a cliché? I believe it’s because it’s true.

Catherine Boone Hadaway is the president and publisher of The Vicksburg Post. She can be reached at catherine.hadaway@vicksburgpost.com.