Got A Big Thick Letter From Home Today…
When I say home I should state that I mean my parents house, the house I grew up in. Despite the fact I haven’t lived there in nearly 7 years it’s still listed as HOME in my phone. It was a rather thick manilla envelope about 10 inches by 5 inches. My mother’s hand writing clearly visible with her artistic flair moving naturally from one letter to the next. I was excited. Why?
TOMORROW IS MY BIRTHDAY!
This is what we call “Getting your hopes up.” A letter from home? Awesome. Maybe I’ll hear about how my brother and sister are doing, what my dad is up to… something special that makes me feel tied to my family during this day. This is the first time in my life where I’m not with family on my birthday and that feels really weird. In fact while I haven’t lived with my folks in the better part of a decade, not seeing them at least once a week feels foreign.
My dad and I used to get together for a beer and pizza at least once every other week and my mom and I would see every big film that would come out, especially if it was in D-Box. Now we don’t have that. It’s nice to know that my dad will be here in just a matter of days now… He’s going to PAX with Matt and I, but it’s not the same.
But what’s in the envelope? Sadly it wasn’t a card from home or a letter of any kind. With tomorrow being my birthday I’d hoped it’d be something special but instead it’s just regular mail that had been funneled to my parents house. A corrupt debt collector trying to collect on a cell phone bill I paid off a decade ago, a survey from a hospital I recently went to for a bad injury and a jury summons, which is the weirdest of all.
I already had a doctor’s note about my health and Jury duty shouldn’t be a thing I deal with. Apparently that was just for the one time and now I’m on again. Luckily I don’t live in California and just need to return the part that states as much.
Today is just a massive bummer. I feel horrible, my guts hate me, my bank screwed me out of 80 bucks that was meant for tomorrow night and I didn’t get so much as a card from home. What kind of birthday weekend is this? I guess this is just that moment where I’m supposed to realize that I’m actually too old for birthdays and that I shouldn’t care at all… but then on the other hand I see my friend who’s birthday is tonight, back in california and he’s a few years older than I am, and having an insanely huge party… with a cover fee.
