Christmas in August

Before my mother unearths this (second) blog of mine and I cease writing about her entirely, I figured I'd relay a mom-related anecdote from today. My mother, you see, has been remarkable in terms of regularly sending me letters, cards, magazines, books, and assorted knick knacks ever since I moved to Houston. Very 'care package at camp'-ish and only slightly less lovely. [Come on, you know getting a care package at camp was The Best Thing Ever and there's little that can top the feeling of superiority you experienced while retrieving your spoils from the distributing counselor distributing as your fellow mail-less campers looked on with dismay.] I am genuinely grateful for her generosity and thoughtfulness.

Because we live in a part of town where you cannot leave your automobile outside lest it be stolen, and since the postman is apparently aware of this, I received a card last week stating that there was a package awaiting me at the post office and no, they wouldn't leave it on my doorstep because, hello! someone is gonna steal that shit just like they did you car. And car stereo. So I trekked to the post office today at lunch to pick up my prize, and when the clerk returned from the back I was surprised to see such a large-ish box when I was expecting something more along the lines of an oversize envelope. Not only that, but I noted that it cost $8.20 to be mailed, so I knew it had to be something good [this is the part where I want to add "because hi, my mom currently has no job," but I don't (really) because I feel sorta bad about that.]

To prolong the ecstasy, I waited to open the box until I got home for lunch. Admittedly, I did pull off the tape while waiting at various stoplights on the drive back, so once I got inside it was easy to quickly remove out the packing paper and reveal my reward(s).

Inside I found this:

Attached to this: