Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Mail

This is so pathetic, but do you want to know what the highlight of my day is? Waking up? Not so much. Lunchtime? Nope. Superdad's arrival home? No, not even that.

No, the highlight of my day is the arrival of the mail. Around noon I start looking out my living room window to see if Rick, our mailman, has pulled up in his trusty USPS van filled with the goodies that have the potential to make my entire day. Sometimes Rick doesn't pull up until after 2 p.m. Those are hard, hard days. And worse, when Rick is on vacation which, given his seniority, is often, the substitute mail person may not pull up until after 3 p.m.--or 4 p.m.! Yes, it's a hard, hard life I lead.

Most days seeing Rick, his mailbag and that hallowed van send me into euphoric states and immediately improves my mood.


What does all this anticipation and excitement bring? Well, folks, let me tell you; it's kind of like being a kid on Christmas morning. Remember the Christmas' in which you spent months in preparation; telling Santa and anyone else who would listen that all you wanted for Christmas was a pony. You wrote letters, you made phone calls. That pony was all you talked about. So, Christmas morning you run downstairs expecting to see that stupid pony (hey, you're a kid, why can't a pony be under a tree?) and all you find is... a Barbie.

That's what the mail is like: bills, junk and more junk. Yesterday I received this lame assortment of bills, a fund-raising letter from John McCain (as if!), the UW-Madison alumni magazine (I'm certain I've never read it and even more certain Superdad doesn't even know we've been getting it for four years) and credit card solicitations.


Wait, though! This is why I love mail: just like Christmas morning, you never know! Some days there are good things in there, perhaps a letter or a card or a trashy free issue of People. Some days the mailbox really does contain the proverbial pony of Christmas morning and it is, quite sadly, my favorite part of the day.

8 comments:

angieoh! said...

My name is Angie and I am a fellow Mail Junkie. Me too. In fact, I order magazines because I delight in there not being only bills and credit card solicitations.

For awhile, I developed an internet shopping habit which was very hard to break, not just mail but PACKAGES. Now, I purchase only when necessary. :)

I hate those Wis Alumni magazines, blech.

sixty-five said...

I wish I shared your youthful optimism. I go for weeks (months?!) without even looking at it - just let the junk pile up - and it occasionally gets me into trouble. Mail? YUK. The only thing worse: PHONE CALLS.

Cranky in NJ

Superdad said...

"Superdad's arrival home? No, not even that."

First embarrassing pictures. Now this. What did I do to you? Really, why do you hate me? ;)

Unknown said...

Cait, ME TOO!!! I found out why when I was in college. One of my professors brought out this big bag of papers which turned out to be her mail. She said most art people love mail, like her, and are excited to look at it, even the credit card applications, because while some can be quite boring, they also can be quite creative, and we look forward to seeing what the latest graphic designers have came up with. I realized then that this was partly my draw to mail. I also like it just because, like you, it's like Christmas morning. I was just happy to find out that it wasn't just me that was obsessed with it because my dh has always thought I was crazy. I secretly always knew I couldn't be that crazy because of it.

Alexis Jacobs said...

We are so much alike sometimes. I love mail. I love the anticipation and waiting to see what surprise awaits me each day. Maybe we should send each other mail.

Anonymous said...

Maybe it's a chick thing. Here's your 4th "me too!"

Except, the whole mailbox-4-houses-away thing has put a bit of a damper on the mail obsession. Especially in the winter. When "BDE" was little, she used to see UPS trucks on the road and say "Yay! The UPS guy!"

MOST with an attitude said...

I am completely the OPPOSITE!! I will go 2-3 days before remembering to make it to the box to pick up the mail. Sad and Dangerous, I know but true!!

Anonymous said...

I can totally relate! LOL!