A Box Full of Treasure

A confession:  All this illness has gotten me down.  I haven't been well since October and when you're an active, social person like me, this can really start to wear on you!  I want to be out and about with friends, or even just tucking myself into a nook at one of the new writery spots I've discovered with some tea and my current project.  Do you know what happens when you cough in that place though?  Oh, worse than whispering too loud at the library, my friends!  The cough seems somehow magnified and heads turn with wide eyes at you - part disbelief that you dared to interrupt their (insert whatever they were reading, writing, listening to here) and part horror at the germs that might infect them.  So I have been home with my antibiotics and my juicing and my Pity Poor Me Party.

And then this arrived to remind me what was truly important in life:

Just an ordinary looking box.

But it had traveled miles and miles and miles to get to me.  (2,094 miles to be exact if you take I-70)

When I opened it up, there were wrapped treasures.

LUSH soap to start my day off cheerful and scented and vegan good
A pine scented Yankee candle to fill my senses when I write
Yummy dark chocolate malt balls
Books!  Oh, such books -
The Chronicles of Harris Burdick (which I've been reading at bedtime because it just looked like a great book to tuck myself in with! and it has been!)
The Night Watch by Sarah Waters (which went promptly into my purse for my breaks when I teach - and I was late to two classes the very next day because I was drawn immediately into the pages and couldn't quite find my way back out)
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (SIGNED Copy - it's perfectly fine to be jealous)
             and
An Eolian t-shirt from Immre that promises:
This shirt cures all known illnesses and makes you roughly 38% more attractive.


We shall see if it delivers on that promise.  I managed a run AND a hike this weekend without making the coughing worse.  So it just may be true to it's word as far as curing all known illnesses.

Did I score or what?

The best thing about this box full of treasure is that each one is a piece of a friend.  She took the time to find her "favorites" and put them in the package to travel the miles and bring a smile to my face.  It warms my heart.  It's like I have here right here with me every time I savor a malt ball or open the pages of the books or light the candle.  (Notice I'm leaving out the soap because it would be weird to think of her there with me when I shower and I'm sure she appreciates not sharing in that part.  HA!)

The gifts aren't the most important part - it's the pieces of Jes that I have here with me, the reminder of our friendship even though we are miles away and we may not always have time to return emails as soon as we get them.

I'm working on a return box.  It's fun to put things aside for a future box and to picture the fun that she will have when she gets them.  Each one a piece of me, each one to say "I'm thinking of you!" and "Much, much love".

I am truly on the mend and the special package from Jes put me directly on that path!

What about you - do you have a special friend that can reach across miles and cheer you?  When is the last time you got a treasure box out of the blue?




(Get ready to Catch Fire starting February 28th!  Alex J. Cavanaugh's Blog Party is coming up and we're all very excited to be a part of it!)