"EEEEeeee!!!! I did it!" or "The gift of Giving"

I'm so excited! I did it! I finally put something truly magical in My Sailor's latest mail drop. He doesn't have much time to comment on things, so I know it's good when he takes a whole paragraph to talk about it.

So, what was this magical gift that went over so well?

The sound of my voice.

See, in case you didn't know, we don't get phone calls, skyping, etc. We have something a kin to email for the more day-to-day stuff (though no pictures, attachments, or links can be sent or received - and we only get transmissions when it's safe for the sub to send/receive), and what the sailors take with them on the boat. So when it's possible to send something extra, we take full advantage of it!

Thankfully, he's wonderful at leaving sweet voice mails and I never deleted 2 of them from my phone. I'm SO glad I kept them. When I'm feeling especially lonely, it helps to hear his voice (even if it was from August or September). But he has no way to hear mine. So I searched around and got the idea to send him a mini-tape recorder. I spoke into it for about 2 minutes (I don't even really remember what I said to be honest, but I know I was getting choked up by the end of it) and that seemed to be the biggest hit.

Could you imagine what it would be like not even being able to hear your loved ones voice over the holidays?

So while we're all searching for the perfect gift this year - maybe it's not as hard as you think. ;)

Now I'm off to take advantage of some sales and get my care packages ready to hit the mail!