Fandom love given in return.
[full size here]
When I got back to my building sometime around six, tired and with sore feet after a full Saturday, it didn't register at first, as I started walking up the stairs - I'd gotten a package from Valve, that was neat, had I ordered something from the store, no I hadn't -
And then I realized the mailing address was handwritten. This wasn't a package from the Valve store. This was a package from Valve.
I'm so, so happy I was alone in the stairwell and could hyperventilate in private the whole way up to my place.
As soon as I got inside and shut the door and finished hyperventillating, I called up my brother and had him come over because I knew he wouldn't believe me if I just told him, and I waited until he was here to open it up, find out what was inside, and try it on - after exchanging no small number of high-fives. He agreed no, he wouldn't have believed me, and it was so much better doing it with someone around.
This is the hat I sent them last April, along with a nice card saying how much I loved the game and what it's meant for me in the past year...and given the hat they sent me can actually hold all my hair, I feel like need to write them a thank-you card.