On Wednesday, during a routine email checkup, I got an email saying my gift was shipped! Neat, and it's two day shipping too! I figured I would expect something to come in Friday or over the weekend, in which case I wouldn't get to it until Monday since I'll be out of town over the weekend. Oh well, waiting for a gift is half the fun, so no biggie. :)

Late last night (I'm talking midnight), I mention something about checking up on my giftee's gift shipping status to my boyfriend, who then remarks, "Oh! I found a package addressed to you on my car today. I put it in the garage." Wait what. My boyfriend has a habit of being forgetful so I'm not too surprised, though I wasn't expecting my gift to come in so early. But it had to be my gift, since I hadn't ordered anything else online recently. I hurried over and retrieved a discreet Amazon box and set it in front of me.

"BABE I NEED YOU TO TAKE PICTURES OF ME AS I UNBOX IT FOR THE ENTIRE INTERNET (or at least Reddit) TO SEE." Since this was the first time I've received a gift in front of someone, I figured it'd be nice to have some pictures of myself as I was unboxing instead of just the unwrapped gift. Because anticipation, yay!

I start opening the box, and inside is another black box. More anticipation build up! I struggled before I found the tab to open that box (and in my excitement of trying to open it, I also completely missed the dark lettering on the side which would have given away what it was).

OH MY GOODNESS.

IT'S A KINDLE.

Things like this just don't happen to me. Needless to say, I started freaking out and "oh my god"-ing. Yep - I cried. I've had an extremely difficult past year at college that eventually resulted in a diagnosis of mild PTSD, and my family has been struggling with financial stress for the past few months. I've felt a little better after school let out for the summer last month but have recently been in a slump while studying for the MCAT's. Also, my Santa would have had no way of knowing this since I never mentioned it online, but I've been dealing with horrible headaches multiple times a week for about 2 months now, which my optometrist has attributed to eye strain (my eyes are apparently super weird shaped). I spend a lot of time looking at a screen, leading to bad headaches and a lack of reading in general, so this Kindle couldn't have come at a better time. I've also wanted an eReader for years, but never said so anywhere because I never expected to receive one.

It amazes me that someone could be so kind to a total stranger. Thank you so much, ZeroMercuri! I will never forget your kindness. :)

(I actually debated whether or not I should include my unboxing pictures since I realized I look super derpy in candid shots and had just hopped out of the shower, and I'm weird about my arms especially since I was wearing a tank blahblahblah, but decided to include them in the end because my expressions.)