I LOVE Getting Mail!!

Honestly, what could be better than coming home to a piece of mail from a friend/family member?

Perhaps coming home to THREE pieces of mail from friends/family members!

Today might go down in history as the best mail day I've ever had. Today was not a holiday, not my birthday, not my funeral, not my bat mitzvah, not my appendectomy surgery.

It was just a normal Monday. I went to work, did some work, left work.

But I came home to pure HAPPINESS!

I had 3 lovely envelopes of differing sizes, my name and address handwritten on each of them (always a good sign).

I saw the return addresses as coming from AR, IA, and UT. Which means: at some point in the last week, I had been on someone's mind all over the United States. It's a nice feeling, that is.

I opened UT's card first - an anticipated envelope from my good friend, Steve Lamb. I had been so excited and antsy to receive a mix CD from him, a connoisseur of delicious music. And he did NOT disappoint. I read over the playlist and glowed with pride that I already knew and loved two of the albums represented with songs on the list. It made me confident that my music tastes are as good as I think they are, when it comes to more obscure music and lesser-known artists. Thank you Steve - You. Validate. Me.

Of course, while the CD is awesome, Steve became my #1 pen pal because of the card he sent with the CD. I'm kind of a sucker for random cards, you see. I really like getting them. And not only did he send me a "Just Because" card, but the card he sent was a musical card! YES! It was this great voice saying, "HIIIIIIIIIIII!!! HI HI HI HI! HELLLLLOOOOOOOOO!! HEEEEEEYYYYY!" over and over again. Just thinking about it is making me grin like an idiot. I might be starting each day this week listening to that card. Talk about a great pick-me-up.

The next card on the stack was AR, so I ripped open the envelope, excited at what sister Abby sent me. I'd recently received my camera battery charger from her in the mail (you always forget something when you go on vacation...), so I was surprised to see something else from her. She'd written a cute little card, which I really enjoyed reading. But the green card behind her note kind of stole the show. Ellee had drawn two interesting sorts of stick people - me and her - next to some really tall trees, Aspens, I believe they are. Abby's caption explained, "Ellee and Kate holding hands by the trees." I love that Ellee knew holding hands by trees - Aspens in particular - is one of my FAVORITE activities! It warmed my heart to receive that picture, with "To Kate, Love Ellee" sprawled on the back in her cute, unsteady handwriting.

I was on a high at this point, with IA's envelope practically begging to opened. So I ripped it open and found Ben and Laura's family Christmas card, which I LOVED! I think my favorite part in general about their 3 little girls is that each girl has such a unique, distinct personality, and you can tell that in the pictures. Confident Emilie, Shy Claire, Spitfire Grace. What a cute, fantastic family, I must say. I am a fan of them.

So now you understand why I had the best mail day EVER today! I don't think I could've asked for anything more on a bleak January Monday. There are not many better ways to start a week than with such a "welcome home" from our mailbox.

I think this probably at least once a day, but I could probably say it out loud a lot more: I've been beyond blessed in my life with such awesome amazing people. I don't think I could be related - by blood or marriage - to better, more fantastic people, and I'm completely aware of the high caliber of friends I've been lucky enough to recruit into my life.

Thanks for turning my typical Monday into a wonderful start to my week!