Micromanaged Care Mail

I mailed out a customized care package a few days ago (a small and understated one - “receive it with love, receive it with realism,” I heads-upped the lucky boy it went to), which is something I haven’t done since Bush II was chief. Earlier this year, I sent someone else a set of flowers from a local “floral atelier.” The care package I could have sent instead would have cost a third as much and would have meant more to both of us.

(Atelier!)

In addition to not having sent a care package in some time, I haven’t received one in just as long. Think twice before underestimating the days of cracking open pricelessly personalized shipments of affection, brimming with everything from homemade Toll House cookies to music mixes to construction-paper drawings from grade-school children.

I’m not normally one to fish for presents. That said, the customized care I currently crave includes:  

*One jumbo rainbow-swirl lollipop  

*Fingerless gloves

*A handwritten note that will make me laugh and cry, ideally all at once

*A blow-wand bottle of bubbles

*Something kitschy that’s representative of the sender’s town or region

*A beeswax or soy wax scented candle

*A surprise, which should in no way overlap with the kitschy keepsake

Anything without petals.