The Birthday Present

I LOVE MAIL. I don't know why I love mail so much, but I have been known to check the mailbox multiple times a day just in case the mailman slipped in an extra round of mail one day for kicks. The funny thing is...I also hate mail. I have been known to go on lengthy, time consuming crusades, to stop the flow of junkmail into our mailbox. But, personal mail, mail from people I know and love; that is just the best.

Which brings me to the topic of my 31st birthday. You see while we were packing to go to Berlin for the summer Jessica was busy on a secret project, a secret birthday project. The present was wrapped in great mystery but I knew measurements, lots of tape and work with an exacto knife were a part of it. So while we actually celebrated my 31st birthday in St. Petersburg, the real party did not begin until we returned. That is when the mail started to come. First in a small trickle and then a veritable deluge of letters from around the world. From all the people that have been a part of my life since I can remember. The letters came every day for weeks. Sometimes in batches, sometimes one at a time. Each one a little treat. A little piece of someone's life from somewhere out there.

You see the secret project was a massive friend-sourced letter writing campaign. Jessica started by constructing this giant collage of photos of me, and us, and our friends and chopped it up into hundreds of postcard size pieces which she distributed to all the people in my life from the last 31 years. Each piece of this giant puzzle was sent with a self-addressed stamped envelope. The instructions asked my friends and family to share something about themselves, about me, whatever it was and send it back to us in Cambridge. And the torrent of mail that began with our return from Europe was awesome. This present continues to give me great joy. There might even be a few cards out there to find their way back home. Don't worry I am always on the look out for them.

On the one year anniversary of this super gift (which coincidentally was my 32nd birthday) I decided to finally reassemble the giant collage. The best part is this puzzle that it didn't have any patches of clouds or sky that are just a terrible chore to put together.

A giant thank you to Jess, and all my friends and family who made my 31st year on this planet a time of bountiful mail and smiles.