POTS - Plain Ol' Telephone Systems

The package was there waiting for me. At first glance I thought to myself... a book. Books I don't have many of because I am incredibly selective of the types of books I do have. I don't read for leisure usually. Mostly I have books of reference material, coffee table books, picture books, and so on. It's hard for me to get wrapped up in works of fiction so I've never been able to get into Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, or even fanfics. Mostly because I have a hard time imagining the characters and the world.

But curious nonetheless, I just got home from work so I took out my multi-tool pocket knife I carry every day at work on my hip and carefully free the book from the shipping material. It was wrapped in plain brown wrapping paper, some packaging tape, and not pictured is some space age looking aluminum bubble wrap. I've never seen something like that before.

The book is called "Muttering Machines to Laser Beams - A History of Mountain Bell" by Herbert J. Hackenburg, Jr. I am completely speechless. I open the cover and see it is signed by the author to someone named Sandra. I flip through the pages and stop on a photo of of a mountain top microwave relay also known as long lines, then I see some switching equipment.

I start to tear up a bit because I felt a little guilty for being so dismissive initially but also that my Santa really put some thought into my nonsense, and somewhat absurd interests. This made me really happy. I think as long as I can remember I've been fascinated by telephone systems and I mentioned one of my bucket list items was to visit the telecommunications museum in Seattle, WA. I'm not sure why I am so interested in them, but I am. I don't think anyone I know personally, let alone someone I've never met online has actually been so thoughtful to seek out something that would be so meaningful to me.

I would have posted the thank you sooner, but there was also a postcard and letter being sent I had to wait for and sometimes mail to a rock in the middle of the pacific takes a while.

Thank you so much Santa, it really did mean a lot to me and I've been enjoying reading it!