Mail-Order Surprise

I have to admit….I don’t check my mail every day. I usually check it every other day or so, but it all kind of depends on what time I come home. We have those community boxes where the number of your box isn’t the number of your house, and all the boxes independently lock, so I take my chances and figure I’m not getting anything good enough to steal.

So, anyway last night I checked my mail and among the grocery store ads, Comcast cable solicitations and a few late-coming Christmas cards for my room mate there was an envelope that caught my attention. My name and address were typed on a label affixed to the front and it was kind of bulky and ripped, no return address, no postmark that I could discern. Being curious, I opened the envelope while still in my car, not even waiting to drive the rest of the way home. Inside was this poem with a message along the bottom of the paper:

I have a list of people I know
All written in a book
And every year at Christmastime
I go and take a look
And that is when I realize
That those names are a part
Not of the book they’re written in
But of my very heart
For each name stands for someone
Who has crossed my path some time
And in that meeting they’ve become
A treasured friend of mine
And once you’ve met some people
The years can not erase
The memory of a pleasant word
Or a friendly face
So when I send a Christmas card
That is addressed to you
It’s because you’re on that list
Of folk I’m indebted to
And you are one of many folk who
In times past I’ve met
And happen to be one of those
I don’t want to forget
And whether I have known you for many years or few
In some way you have a part in
Shaping things I do
This, the spirit of Christmas, that
Forever and ever endures
May it leave its richest blessing
In the hearts of you and yours.

Please take this gift as a small thank you for being who you are. In return, all I ask is that you allow me to remain anonymous and to have a wonderful Christmas season.

The bulky item was a small business-sized tin with a gift certificate inside. Curios-er and curious-er. There was a phone number on the back of the gift card and a pin number to call and access the card amount. I figured it was a very nice gesture (I misted up while I read the poem), but that the gift card was for maybe $5. It was not. It was significantly more, and I am stunned.

I’ve spent a great deal of time thinking about who may have sent this and why, but every time I come up with a possible “suspect” it seems completely un-likely to be them. It is, quite frankly, driving me a little crazy.

So to whoever sent me the lovely gift:
1. Thank you so much; I am very touched, and
2. Show yourself!