"Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things."
-- Rodgers and Hammerstein,
"My Favorite Things," The Sound of Music
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| Paper heart box 7-22-14 |
I get packages on my doorstep all the time, but they're typically full of stuff I've purchased online and sent to myself.
I know they're coming.
It's no big surprise when they arrive.
Hell, I can even track them minute by minute until they get here.
But a surprise package, sent from a friend, loaded with special items selected just for me? That's a whole other kettle of fish.
My birthday was over a week ago, but I got a birthday package in the mail yesterday anyway.
It was from my friend Kelly. She sent me a box of really great stuff all the way from Rhode Island.
Kelly is always sending me little surprises through the mail, even when it's not my birthday -- everything from Lego mini figures, to skull bandanas, to books, to t-shirts to pastries from her hipster Providence bakery. (She is still trying to crack the code on how to ship her delicate, fragile meringues without the USPS reducing them to rubble.)
I can tell at a glance if a box on my doorstep is from Kelly, because she usually seals them with cupcake duct tape.
Even though I'm a big kid now, the thrill of getting a surprise package in the mail never gets old. It still makes me as super happy and super excited as it did when I was small. And there's something about knowing someone thought of me when we weren't even together that feels, well, really good.
And so ...
Ding! Ding! Ding!
In honor of my awesome thoughtful friend, I'm introducing the One Good Thing "What the Helly-Kelly Surprise Package Challenge."
Think of someone you love, or like a real lot, and shoot them a li'l sumthin sumthin through the mail. You can make it, or buy it, or find it. And it doesn't have to be their birthday either. It doesn't have to be their anything. And don't tip them off that it's coming. Just send it and see how super happy and super excited you'll make them.
In fact, I'll bet it'll make you both feel pretty good.
(*Cupcake duct tape is totally optional, but is definitely a nice touch.)
