Something That Made My Day

After a short(er) day at the office that felt very long, I was walking through the hotel lobby last night, when the manager informed me that a package had arrived for me and had been placed in my room. Knowing what to expect, sort of, I walked to the elevator with a spring in my step. My mom had put a package in the mail for me a couple of weeks ago, and I knew this had to be it.

The things that crack me up, and that I totally love, about my mom are exemplified by this:

• She and I have been referring to it as “La Boite Enorme”, which means “the enormous box” in French. I don’t know why some things sound funnier in French, but they do.
• The box weighed 11 pounds. That is E-L-E-V-E-N pounds of soup, oatmeal, herbal tea, and nutrition bars. This is what is referred to as “a gracious plenty.”
• The box was wrapped in approximately three pounds of packing tape, in a tamper-evident box, to make sure that customs wasn’t tempted to peruse the contents.
• The box took me approximately 20 minutes to open, as a result of the tape situation, and owing to the fact that the only opening implements I had were the miniature sewing scissors in my emergency sewing kit and my nails.
• My mom had taped cards and notes to me over every “seam”, so that no one could open the box without tearing through them. What’s more, the note on the top casually stated the entire contents of the box, in a very breezy and conversational way. Like you do.
• The cards and notes all said “Amanda” on them. As a kid, my parents would only “full name” me when I was in trouble – apart from that it’s always been Mandy. However, the box was addressed to “Amanda”, so I guess my mom didn’t want anyone to think that there might be some covert, clandestine, or nefarious purpose to said boite enorme.
• Everything was carefully and lovingly wrapped in bubble wrap and/or plastic baggies – including the packets of soup and oatmeal, the nutrition bars, and the books she enclosed because she thought I’d like them.

When we were IMing this afternoon (it was morning for her), I mentioned that it hadn’t arrived yet. Which I then realized meant that it would, of course, arrive today.

Et La Boite Enorme est arrivé!

Merci beaucoup, Maman, je t’aime!