On Tuesday of last week, when I was gone for almost the entire day, Harvey's crush (the mailman) left me a parcel notice. I wasn't expecting anything, and I was a little surprised that he didn't leave a box on the porch. I mean, I know porch thieves are vicious and thick on the ground this time of year, but he leaves other things without a second thought. What gives? There was no point of origin zip code on the slip, which was even weirder.
In my frustration over medical insurance snafus last week, I forgot to go in and get it. It totally slipped my mind until Saturday afternoon. Since then I had been reminding myself hourly, so that I had a hope of getting it before it was mailed back to the unknown sender. I went in today at lunchtime, and waited for about 20 minutes in the line. Then the mail clerk walked past, saw the slip in my hand, and sent me to a different line. (Of course.) The lady in front of me was struggling with her documentation to pick up held mail, so the clerk reached out his hand without making eye contact with me, and pinched his fingers a couple of times to get my parcel slip. He went back and retrieved a box. Rather, he retrieved what was left of a box. It looked like something heavy had fallen on it, and then someone kicked it just to be sure. When he put it on the counter, he said it had come in international mail. I was doubly confused. He asked me if I still wanted it, and I nodded quickly. You think you can hand me a mystery like that, and I'd walk away from it?
As I collected the abused cardboard, I caught sight of the city name on a postal stamp. It was from Croatia! Our sweet exchange student from two years ago had sent a Christmas present! I have to hope all of the original contents were there. I didn't read the customs declaration yet. Inside were cute socks and chocolates and an incredibly sweet card. I miss her, and I hope we get to see each other again someday. She has great potential, and now that she is becoming a young adult, I'm excited to see her progress.
This evening, after a very long, tiring day, I was trying to put together a few of my gifts. I heard rustling and crunching from the area near the tree. I popped around the corner from the hall, in time to see a chubby black furball zip away from the presents under the tree. I leaned over, and yelled at Jackie to stop eating presents. She acted like she thought I couldn't see her where she was hiding. For clarity's sake, I have drawn an arrow pointing to her tail on the picture. I know she is a smart cat, but this is one of the goofiest things she has done all week, which is really saying something.
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