Surprises keep showing up in my mailbox. It's a sweet, somewhat-forgotten feeling, getting mail out of the blue. Letter writing is kind of an old-fashioned skill, one that I've sort of lost, and when dear friends demonstrate that they still have these talents, frankly, I'm in awe of them. Me, I take a year and a half to get Christmas presents in the mail. No, I'm not kidding. Not exaggerating in the least. I have some sort of emotional hangup about the post office, and I never go there, even when it ought to be easy.
My step-dad is the king of packaging. My husband and I have a mutual understanding of how impossible it is to get into something he mails. I mean, for sure we will never lose pieces out of one of these boxes in the mailing system. If they arrive crushed or torn, then someone did it on purpose, and they expended a lot of effort to damage our stuff. Last week, my mother gathered up a few button-up shirts that they didn't need anymore, and they mailed them to me. I think I currently had one button-up shirt that fits me. I had been wearing exclusively pullovers for years. But my upcoming surgery is going to change how I dress for several weeks. I'm not going to want to raise my arms until things feel better, so I needed the loan. The box of shirts arrived on Thursday, and it took me until Saturday morning to have the (unit of energy) spoons to work past the tightly-taped brown paper packaging. It took more than twenty minutes this time. As soon as I started fiddling with it, I had four cats supervising every step of the way. They inspected every inch of paper wrapping, they sniffed the corners of the box, and once opened, they stood on it and smelled each shirt. My parents have cats and dogs too, and textiles that came from a home with multiple humans, felines, and canines they didn't know concerned them. I wore one of the shirts immediately when I went out to dinner last night, and Harvey paid very close attention to me. I think he eventually decided he could accept it.
In yesterday's mail, and in mail from about a week ago, I got some letters from women who mean a lot to me. My sister in law and one of my favorite military spouse friends sent cards to cheer me up after they learned of my cancer diagnosis. I also have gotten many electronic messages from friends and family in the last couple of weeks. These words of support are precious to me. I want everyone who has reached out to know that I appreciate it, more than I know how to express. I'll keep at this, trying to say it enough. For now, I'll start easy: Thank you. You made a difference. You gave me strength.
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