This may sound like a bit of an exaggeration, but making contact with my keychain-collecting, email pen-pal Heathersmoo through her Livejournal site has been practically life changing for me. I know I've probably said this before, but keychain collecting can be a lonely hobby. Finding someone online who shares that hobby has made a big difference for me. It's helped me feel more...normal I guess, like maybe collecting keychains isn't such an out-of-left-field pastime after all. And it's so nice to have a keychain collecting friend that I can swap duplicates from my collection with. It's also nice knowing that if I find a decently priced, mixed lot of keychains secondhand but don't actually need and/or like all of them, I can always send the extras to Heather. Although the fact that she lives in another state is a bit of a downer, since it means we'll probably never get to meet in person. Steadily increasing postage rates to send each other stuff could also be a hassle.
Over the past few months I've sent Heather several small, keychain care packages. She has been going through a rough time in her life, and I was hoping that a few keychains and the reassurance that she was in my thoughts would help to cheer her up a little. Well, Heather decided that it was past time that she returned the favor. Using the excuse of celebrating my half-birthday, she sent me a care package filled to bursting with keychain goodies.
Heather structured this care package around a zoo theme, with keychain versions of various critters, for example bears.
The bear on the end is a 'birthstone' keychain, and the color is meant to simulate topaz, according to Heather's note. Topaz can be found naturally in more than one color, with the more familiar Golden Topaz being used in modern times as a November birthstone while Blue Topaz is associated with December, my actual birth month. However since this care package was intended for my half-birthday, which would fall in June, Heather might've been aiming for that. The modern day June birthstone is apparently Alexandrite, which according to my online research looks green in sunlight but has a red tone under incandescent light.
Heather also included a flamingo keychain, stating that, "It's not a trip to Florida without them." Heather herself resides in Florida.
Other animals featured in keychain form were a dog,
a cat,
and, as Heather described them, a "herd" of unicorns. No two members of the 'herd' look exactly alike, although one of the 'unicorns' has wings as well as a horn, so it's technically an alicorn. I know some mythical creature fans can be persnickety about that.
This "pine tree" keychain, as Heather called it, was part of the package as well. I'm not normally a huge fan of sequins, but this colorful conifer is just plain fun.
According to Heather, this purple crystal keychain is an amethyst. Heather must've remembered that my favorite color is purple.
Something else that Heather apparently remembered was an email conversation that we had months ago where the topic of anime came up in passing. I mentioned, again in passing, that "anime wasn't really my thing". But I then admitted that I had been into Cardcaptors back in the day, when shows like Pokemon were still all the rage in the U.S. This pink winged keychain is the Star Wand symbol from Cardcaptors. It sort of amazes me that Heather actually remembered my Cardcaptors comment when I think I only brought it up once. I wish my own memory was that good.
Thank you so much for the generous gift Heather! When I went to bring in the mail and found a package with my name on it, it really brightened my day, sort of that 'child seeing the wrapped packages on Christmas morning' kind of feeling. I sincerely hope that the clouds are lifting in your own life.
Signed, Treesa
