Thursday

On Thursday, I went to work. I like my job. I don’t love it, but I like it – it’s great experience and I learn a lot, and I’m never going to have a boss as great as the one I have right now. What I don’t like is that I sit all day in my windowless office. Unless deadlines are looming, or it’s a particularly difficult case, I don’t see or talk to a lot of people. That’s the part of my job I’m not crazy about. That, and the whole day passes me by and I have no idea what’s going on in the outside world, because I have no windows.

On Thursday, work was the same. I worked, and I was finalizing some particularly frustrating cases. After work, we had a work thing. My friend Alice got a new job and is leaving our office. Boo for leaving, but woohoo for her finding a job that she’s excited about. So a bunch of people from our office went out after work. We ate at J.Buck’s – it’s pretty much the go-to restaurant since it’s approximately .25 feet from our office building. We had fun times, and then I went to the grocery store to buy supplies for my holiday cookie exchange party, and then I went home. It was getting late, after all.

When I got to my door, a huge box was waiting for me. The night before, I’d gotten a notice from Fed-Ex that I missed a delivery. So I had signed to have it delivered the next day, thinking it was my parents shipping me my Christmas presents (to open them alone), and I was not pleased. However, I was wrong, so I quickly retracted my displeasure with my parents. This box was massive. I bent down to look at the address and recognized it as from a friend in Fort Smith. As I was about to try to figure out where to cut the box open, I noticed helpful arrows and instructions pointing one direction, saying, “Open here” and “A good place to open.” It’s true that I generally hate being told what to do, but in this case I appreciated it, so I took the advice and opened there. I want to say I was immediately delighted when I opened the box, but that would be a lie. All I could see were Styrofoam peanuts and a card addressed to “Headband Davis,” a nickname I abide because I love my friend and it’s pretty funny. In case you are confused by this nickname, you should know that I like to wear headbands. See, look over to the right, I even say it in my description of myself. I like headbands. If you still don’t understand the nickname, then I’m not sure we can be friends anymore. (Just kidding, we can be friends – Bless your heart).

On Thursday, it had been at least 3 weeks since I last talked to my friend. This was a complete, out-of-the-blue surprise. And it was awesome. The card was awesome, too – one of those square ones from Hallmark that I love. And it said one sentence: “A window for your office.” By that time, I was talking to myself. I just kept thinking, “No, way!” But it was true. I threw peanuts every which way to see for myself. Sure enough, inside this box was a window. I pulled out the window and fell in love with it – it’s from an old building, complete with distressed wood. In my excitement, I dumped out the entire peanut contents of the box. That might have been a mistake. But they were quickly (er, eventually) put back in the box. And then I sat there and admired my window. It’s beautiful.

It was an amazing, grand gesture that makes me smile. A lot. My friend sent me a window. Never in my life would I have thought of this, but in so many ways, it was a perfect gift.

I got a window. How was your Thursday?