“Practice random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty.” Anne Herbert

When I was in the 5th grade, I joined an international pen pal organization. Every month or so I'd get a package in the mail filled with something wonderful from parts unknown, a mancala game, a handwritten book or a wooden flute; a small trinket or two that would open my eyes to life in a place far, far away from the wilds of New Jersey. I looked forward to those packages. They were fun and exciting and something I remember to this day.

I love mail. Real mail. Mail that comes in envelopes with stamps on it and packages sealed with rolls of brown packaging tape. I love stickers and padded envelopes and I especially love letters covered with blue and white AIR MAIL stickers. I love walking into the post office and sticking my round key into the slot, hoping that something wonderful will be behind the door. A letter. A card. A little something that says that someone, somewhere is thinking about me.

I can't help it. I'm a sucker for a little kindness.

And most days, I'm disappointed. Most days, tucked unceremoniously behind the door of the post box is wads of advertising for things I would never ever buy. Solicitations for credit cards and pizza coupons and bills. There are always lots of bills.

Today, however, was different. Today there was something wonderful behind the tiny little post box door. Today there was a package from my package project partner, a woman named Amy whom I have never met; a woman who lives in Australia, on the other side of the world from California.

A couple of months ago I signed up to be part of a "package project" that matched bloggers from around the world with a partner they didn't know. The task was to create a package for your partner and ship it off to parts unknown, to share a little bit of your side of the world with someone else, to do something special for someone.

My package arrived today. It was filled with the most wonderful things; chocolates and a tea towel, recipes and regional treats, a key chain and a baseball and a very special scrapbook made just for me. It was fun and thoughtful and reminded me of those packages when I was 12. It made me happy. A random act of kindness, a little something that said that somewhere, someone was thinking about me.

It made my day. Thanks Amy.