C'e Posta per Me!
One of the most exciting parts of the day is checking to see if mail has arrived. Our apartment mail system is kind of strange--we don't have individual mail boxes. We just have one slot in the door, and the mailman sort of crams the mail through that, and then we, the tenants, find it lying on the floor and sort through it.It's not the best system, clearly. Twice so far I have found mail of mine like this--not having any idea it was my own and picking it up just to see. Those were fortunate surprises, but I can imagine some mail you don't want to accidently find--bills, etc. Sometimes I don't know exactly how the Italians do it.
On Tuesday, though, when I got back from checking email, I opened the door to find--a package!!! I barely read the address before taking it downstairs with me. The only thing I noticed was the word "candy" written as part of the list of contents. CANDY! Luckily once I opened the door and started going at the package with a pair of dull scissors, I did happen to notice it was addressed to me. Anyway, I was so excited. It was my first package this year.
My friend Lori, who studied in Italy at the Macerata program a year back, had sent the package all the way from Oregon, and it had arrived pretty much unscathed. Inside I found everything from Just-add-Vinegar-and-Oil Salad Dressing to a pack of Gel-style markers. AND that candy I was so excited about: Reese's Cups! It was a full-fledged package, and it really did make my day.
But maybe the best part of these sort of packages are the pictures. Lori and Corrie and I had all been in Macerata during the summer, and opening the card, a stack of photos fell out, filling the cold, winter apartment with warm weather and sunshine, tans and water-fights. In looking through those pictures, I felt a sense of that time together, and it made me laugh just remembering. It was a full August of water fights on the lawn in Parma in the middle of a heat-wave summer, talking and laughing while waiting an hour for a pizza at the only pizzeria open in Macerata, going to the beach every day. And back then we thought this was all little stuff, as we lapped up gelato and complained about the heat.
In the end, Looking over photos and smiling while eating a Reese's cup in my basement apartment in Macerata--half a year later--perhaps those little moments count the most.
Thanks Lori!
-Jackie
Update: Yesterday evening I got home and found a package from my mom too! It was this huge, refridgerator-box-sized package (not quite, but it was BIG!), and I opened as soon as I got to the kitchen table. Thank you mom! I appreciate everything! Antonello loves it too--especially the three bags of Sour Patch Kids!
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