a very pleasant surprise
I got a card and a package in the mail today. The card was from England, sent by my second-cousin, Ian. I haven't seen him in perhaps twenty years, but his grandmother and mine were sisters: Alice stayed in Birmingham, while Ann came to America back in the 1920s. We've been in touch via Facebook, so it was great to get a real card.
The package was entirely unexpected, as all the best packages are, and is part of a story that started in September, when sharonsays invited me to a party at Harvard. One of her several degrees is from there, and so we went to the opening of Harvard's 350th birthday party, which took place in Harvard Yard, in the pouring rain. We had a grand time. There was a band, and free chocolate and an excellent ale brewed specially for the occasion, and we talked to people and danced in the mud and enjoyed the sheer silliness of it all.
At one point, we noticed an iPhone lying sadly in the mud, along with a flash drive on a cord, and picked it up. Nobody nearby seemed to have lost it, even though it hadn't been there long, since it was still working. I opened the email program and sent a message to its "from" address, with my own cell phone number and email. I figured if I didn't get a call from the owner before the evening ended, I'd hand it over to University security.
I then dropped it into my purse and promptly forgot all about it.
Two days later, my cellphone rang, and I met Alison, who was delighted to find out that her phone and flash drive were safe. As it turns out, she had just moved back to the Boston area from Tennessee, and the phone was full of useful information that wasn't readily available anywhere else. She came by my house to pick it up, and we wound up having a long conversation.
Today, I got a lovely card from her, and a book: 14,000 Things to Be Happy About. The book and the very nice note in the card made it 14,002 happiness-causing things.
May you find happiness-causing things in your path today!
The package was entirely unexpected, as all the best packages are, and is part of a story that started in September, when sharonsays invited me to a party at Harvard. One of her several degrees is from there, and so we went to the opening of Harvard's 350th birthday party, which took place in Harvard Yard, in the pouring rain. We had a grand time. There was a band, and free chocolate and an excellent ale brewed specially for the occasion, and we talked to people and danced in the mud and enjoyed the sheer silliness of it all.
At one point, we noticed an iPhone lying sadly in the mud, along with a flash drive on a cord, and picked it up. Nobody nearby seemed to have lost it, even though it hadn't been there long, since it was still working. I opened the email program and sent a message to its "from" address, with my own cell phone number and email. I figured if I didn't get a call from the owner before the evening ended, I'd hand it over to University security.
I then dropped it into my purse and promptly forgot all about it.
Two days later, my cellphone rang, and I met Alison, who was delighted to find out that her phone and flash drive were safe. As it turns out, she had just moved back to the Boston area from Tennessee, and the phone was full of useful information that wasn't readily available anywhere else. She came by my house to pick it up, and we wound up having a long conversation.
Today, I got a lovely card from her, and a book: 14,000 Things to Be Happy About. The book and the very nice note in the card made it 14,002 happiness-causing things.
May you find happiness-causing things in your path today!