Packages

Everyone knows that the highlight of going to college is all the wonderful things that your parents will send you because they miss you so much. After 3 years here, I have finally really gotten a sense of what care packages are really all about. Sure I got the occasional mailing of things I forgot or sometimes a package of Filipino pastries from my Aunt, but nothing super special. In the span of a couple of months though, my mother has managed to make up for all those packages she never sent the first 3 years.

I swear my mother spent her whole life dreaming of the day she would have kids and so when she was single and we were little she hoarded just about everything she could manage. This has come in quite handy as I have moved into my very own apartment as previously mentioned in other posts. Towards the end of the school year I notified my mother that I would need her to mail me my comforter for my much larger full size bed. We had talked on the phone about some other things, like a pot she had lying around the house and some things they got at the strawberry festival, which I have missed for 3 years straight after attending it for at least 10 years. Regardless, when the package arrived for me at the beginning of the summer, I was pleasantly surprised to find more than the aforementioned 2 items. The large and quite heavy box included

comforter
"small," but really in fact large, frying pan
2 boxes of maple cookies from tj's
1 box of delicious things we buy from costco
shirt from the strawberry festival
rice cooker
shopping bag
cups
plates
jar opener
mung beans complete with family recipe

Aside from the obvious excitement of finding lots of things that I didn't actually ask for, the best part was probably the notes that were attached to just about everything in the box. The rice cooker was lying around in the garage which I should take good care of so I could use it later, the jar opener was free at the strawberry festival, the shopping bag also free, the plates from when she was single and the mung beans came with both her version as well as my grandma's.

The box was so heavy, I had to ask my friend to drive it back to the house I was staying at. But I thoroughly enjoyed it and everything has come in super handy, especially the rice cooker!

My mother recently sent me another package, this time complete with more of the things I had asked for, like dish towels, bread pans, ear phones, masher for mung beans, and a hair catcher for the shower. Other items included

2 more boxes of maple cookies
3 boxes of ziploc in different sizes
the cutest little 1 oz jam jars
sponges

And again, there were notes to accompany things, though this time only the dish towels. The first note read "These are clean. That is why they're in ziploc bags. These are Costco towels." The second read "These are older never used not Costco towels. I've had them for maybe 20 years." My coworkers thoroughly enjoyed hearing about the history of my dish towels and also enjoyed the box of cookies I shared with them. When I called my mother to inform her that I had received the package, she asked if I could tell the difference between the dish towels and when I paused a little too long, all she said was, "I used to buy such thin towels!" I think I'll have to share this with my coworkers.

All in all, the two packages this summer have made the summer more manageable and the apartment more liveable because now I have actual house items. Though it's a little weird that my mother kept the plates she used when she was single or dish towels that are 20 years old is indeed a little strange, but I'm grateful, cause it meant she (nor I) didn't have to spend the money for all these things, with the exception of mailing fees.

I only hope that everyone could get the exciting and cute packages that my mother sends me.