Surprise Surprise

A wee anecdote to start your Saturday morning, I’m in a bit of a rush you see, in an effort to be more spontaneous I’m off to see my friend in Palmerston North today (two hours away).

Anyway anyway anyway, yesterday morning I was having one of those ‘do I have to function today?’ days. I was making all sorts of deals with myself all morning about how to let myself off the hook. I even told myself that I wasn’t going to go to the gym, even though I secretly knew that at 5pm I’d make myself go. Walked out the door, and there were two parcels for me at the letterbox. One was a box, the other a big cardboard tube. The box was from Mum, it was actually one of her more normal packages (there have been some classics, such as a box full of mandarins, the one that had all the competition entry forms in it and the one with the Freddo frogs put into a snap-lock bag because she’d opened the packet and eaten some). Anyway, it contained honey and vitamin C and lollies. The tube was postmarked to be from the USA, not too strange I have some friends there, but the person who signed off for it was not anyone I know, even stranger.

I opened it up and inside was a poster with the Holstee manifesto on it. (this is it here http://shop.holstee.com/pages/about) It brought a tear to my eye as I read it then raced out the door to arrive in class suitably sweaty but just on time. I rang Mum to say thanks for the package and did she send the poster? No.

I asked RJ who is very close friend to whom I had just complained to about the uselessness of my over-priced education, was it her? No.

Hmmmm so with my Sherlock senses tingling I asked the only other person capable of such a well-timed surprise. And I was right. It was sent by my colocataire (french flatmate) who resides in Melbourne.

The real beauty of this story is that friends are all about timing, saying the right things at the right time, saying the wrong things at the wrong time (to which you crack up), sending you posters which scream at you what you should really be doing with your life. Friends who text you late on a Thursday to ask what you’re doing resulting in a trip to Palmy when there’s study to do, but happiness to be had. I love surprises.