I Heard A Man Say...

Thank God!

The sun is shining. Move out/ move-in day had come, and I wonder if the movers would think it’s odd that the furthest distance between my new apartment and my current one is only two minutes… In my subconscious I’m telling myself it won’t matter as long as I tip good, right?

What was even more impressive was that I was actually maneuvering calmly through this process, even down to the packing of boxes, considering what's happened...

Two weeks prior my father had passed away suddenly in a car crash on his way to work. Somehow the world can stop and keep going at the same time… I guess this move is a much welcomed distraction, but a quick memory jolts my emotions and I have to bite my lip to the point of bleeding to ward off the intensity of my swelling tears.

I caught it quickly, making sure the movers were still intently working, and not focused on me… deep breath, up the street we went.

We arrive in one minute and forty two seconds precisely.

After five hours of taking turns between the one elevator and twelve flights of stairs to make it to the 6th floor, I was exhausted and ready for my glass of red wine with an extremely high alcohol content. It would be well deserved. I found the liquid courage to find a corkscrew, a few things I’d need to shower with, and a couple of packed clothes to wear for the next couple days. There was another box I noticed that oddly looked different from the rest with the letters L.W on it… those were my fathers initials, but I didn’t remember him giving me anything other than a coffee maker and my air mattress to sleep on a few weeks before he passed.. I decided I would look at that later and hop in the shower before the wine really kicked in.

After my shower I poured another glass of wine (slightly to the rim for good sleeping measures) and got comfortable on the inflatable mattress… I was starting to feel that same emotion from earlier swell up in my gut having thought about this stupid mattress.

This stupid mattress my father had bought me as a house warming gift. I run to turn on the music quickly, this helps fill my space in my head with something other than my emotions for the moment. But that was just like my dad… thoughtful, loving, and always having my back. He knew I’d just graduated, struggling to find my new beginnings on a journey in my life. Enough thoughts for tonight… what is in that box though I wonder?

I sleep like a baby for the next ten hours to Earth, Wind, and Fire pandora radio.

Sunday morning, I welcomed the sunshine.

Even though that second glass of wine has my stomach a little nauseous. I whip out the coffee maker for it’s new home initiation, stir some cream and sugar, and I’m feeling back to normal slightly. The clock says it’s ten minutes until 9, so I prepare myself to finally go through and tackle some boxes to break down from the move.

The box with my fathers initials… I immediately ran to see what could be inside.

The box looks old and tethered, like it had been beat up or reused. I open the top and vere inside… There are several letters and one little black notebook with the same initials as on the front of the box. Looking closer at the letters, they were all addressed with my name as the recipient. How is this possible? Stranger yet, I look at the dates they had been sent… the year 1947.

Several questions went through my mind! My immediate thought was to start opening them, but where did this even come from? My nerves were unsteady for a few and then my eyes vered toward the notebook… it was the only thing within the box that didn’t look old and worn. The leather bound smelled of fresh purchase with the lettering for the initials being sewn with a luminous gold thread… it’s pages seemed untouched.

Except for the first page, which read,

“Truth and healing can be found in a multitude of places.

P.O. Box 219

-L.W”

Underneath the notebook was a gold key…(to be continued.)