EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH!
I have the bestestestest internet friends, truly. Let it be known that "internet friendships" are anything but shallow, artificial or "not real".
Okay, so I know you all already knew that but I have a wonderful story for you to tell everyone who still tries to sell that kind of bullshit.
A while ago, at the beginning of December, someone opened a thread about Christmas sweaters on a message board I have now been frequenting for almost twenty years (HOLY FUCKING SHIT JESUS HOLY HELL WHAT THE FUCK) and the debate whether it's okay to wear them for work went back and forth for a while (Christmas sweaters aren't as much as a thing in Germany as they are in English speaking countries) and then I said that I would so totally wear the fuck out of a Christmas sweater if I had one because I love the concept (and Christmas) and that there are some really cool Star Wars sweaters out there but as we all know, I'm let's say a little short on money and well, maybe two weeks or so later, three weeks or so before Christmas, a package from the UK arrived with my name on it. I hadn't ordered anything and because my sister had just relocated back to Germany from her job in England and was ordering lots of stuff home decor stuff because she wanted to move, I assumed she had ordered it to our parents' address and put my name on it for some reason (we sometimes do that so that, for example, our parents don't open packages that might contain their birthday presents or stuff like that) and didn't open it. Forward shortly before Christmas and my sister arriving home in Berlin and asking me why I haven't opened the package yet. I told her I'd just assumed it was hers and she was like "No, it definitely isn't. I think I know what it is, but really, you so totally should open it."
Turned out, it was a Star Wars Christmas sweater, ordered by a group of girls from the message board (who've been on there probably for as long as I have...), to surprise me and wow, I'm still totally in awe of that gesture (my sister knew about it because she frequents the same message board and the girls asked her for my size. She so totally was in on it :D). I got a card, too, with so many names on it that most of the text on the card were names. That was a truly amazing gesture.
And then I get back from two weeks of vacation through half of Germany (Berlin to Saxony-Anhalt to North Rhine-Westphalia to Schleswig-Holstein to Berlin in two weeks...) and have another DHL missed package notice in my mailbox (that my parents couldn't get because oops, forgot to give them my mailbox keys...). So I go up to the neighbor DHL left the package with and she's like "Oh, yeah, it's been here before Christmas" and I'm like "Huh?" and look at the sender and again, weird. Okay, so I take the package upstairs to my parents' and unpack the Amazon packages first (I got an Amazon gift card for Christmas and put it to good use during my vacations ;)) and then get to the mysterious package. Turns out, it's my most favorite Starbucks Christmas mug. I had one since 2014 but managed to drop it in December and I admit it: I was heartbroken. Because it was limited edition, it was a Starbucks Christmas mug (I kinda sorta started collecting them a couple years back, please don't judge me) and it was a Berlin Christmas mug. So I talked about it on the message board, miffed that the only available mugs aren't in my price range currently and the girls apparently decided to take care of that. It's. I. Um. I don't know... what to say. Just that I am humbled and speechless by the wonderful gesture and... I. Um. You know *flails aimlessly
Also, and this is the most wonderful thing about this: this isn't the first time I got an internet friend surprise package. Both mackenziesmomma and sgteam14283 have sent packages, too, with wonderful contents and absolutely unexpected (I promise, I'll return the gesture as soon as I can). So yeah: never let anyone tell you that internet friendships are shortlived and not real. They very much are, and honestly, this is a wonderful way to start the new year \o/
Okay, so I know you all already knew that but I have a wonderful story for you to tell everyone who still tries to sell that kind of bullshit.
A while ago, at the beginning of December, someone opened a thread about Christmas sweaters on a message board I have now been frequenting for almost twenty years (HOLY FUCKING SHIT JESUS HOLY HELL WHAT THE FUCK) and the debate whether it's okay to wear them for work went back and forth for a while (Christmas sweaters aren't as much as a thing in Germany as they are in English speaking countries) and then I said that I would so totally wear the fuck out of a Christmas sweater if I had one because I love the concept (and Christmas) and that there are some really cool Star Wars sweaters out there but as we all know, I'm let's say a little short on money and well, maybe two weeks or so later, three weeks or so before Christmas, a package from the UK arrived with my name on it. I hadn't ordered anything and because my sister had just relocated back to Germany from her job in England and was ordering lots of stuff home decor stuff because she wanted to move, I assumed she had ordered it to our parents' address and put my name on it for some reason (we sometimes do that so that, for example, our parents don't open packages that might contain their birthday presents or stuff like that) and didn't open it. Forward shortly before Christmas and my sister arriving home in Berlin and asking me why I haven't opened the package yet. I told her I'd just assumed it was hers and she was like "No, it definitely isn't. I think I know what it is, but really, you so totally should open it."
Turned out, it was a Star Wars Christmas sweater, ordered by a group of girls from the message board (who've been on there probably for as long as I have...), to surprise me and wow, I'm still totally in awe of that gesture (my sister knew about it because she frequents the same message board and the girls asked her for my size. She so totally was in on it :D). I got a card, too, with so many names on it that most of the text on the card were names. That was a truly amazing gesture.
And then I get back from two weeks of vacation through half of Germany (Berlin to Saxony-Anhalt to North Rhine-Westphalia to Schleswig-Holstein to Berlin in two weeks...) and have another DHL missed package notice in my mailbox (that my parents couldn't get because oops, forgot to give them my mailbox keys...). So I go up to the neighbor DHL left the package with and she's like "Oh, yeah, it's been here before Christmas" and I'm like "Huh?" and look at the sender and again, weird. Okay, so I take the package upstairs to my parents' and unpack the Amazon packages first (I got an Amazon gift card for Christmas and put it to good use during my vacations ;)) and then get to the mysterious package. Turns out, it's my most favorite Starbucks Christmas mug. I had one since 2014 but managed to drop it in December and I admit it: I was heartbroken. Because it was limited edition, it was a Starbucks Christmas mug (I kinda sorta started collecting them a couple years back, please don't judge me) and it was a Berlin Christmas mug. So I talked about it on the message board, miffed that the only available mugs aren't in my price range currently and the girls apparently decided to take care of that. It's. I. Um. I don't know... what to say. Just that I am humbled and speechless by the wonderful gesture and... I. Um. You know *flails aimlessly
Also, and this is the most wonderful thing about this: this isn't the first time I got an internet friend surprise package. Both mackenziesmomma and sgteam14283 have sent packages, too, with wonderful contents and absolutely unexpected (I promise, I'll return the gesture as soon as I can). So yeah: never let anyone tell you that internet friendships are shortlived and not real. They very much are, and honestly, this is a wonderful way to start the new year \o/