We have gotten two packages of the highest import in the last week. The first was a small FedEx box which we came home to find on our doorstep on Wednesday the 27th of February. We didn't see it through the gate, but once we turned the corner, we saw immediately what felicity was now ours. Indeed, we felt like documenting the moment, so I unlocked the door and Anne got our camera and took pictures of the box from many angles, then I took pictures of Anne walking into the house with the box, opening the box, and finally removing its contents: a pizza from a Brooklyn pizzeria, frozen and so full of delicious that it cost nothing to ship. It was packaged inside of a plastic bag, with four rows between wax paper, two slices per row. We infused the pizza with heat and crushed red peppers, ate it, and hibernated for the next several days, having taken in enough deliciousness to simply rest in contentment.

The next package came on Friday, this one considerably larger and clearly containing something even more awesome, since it had a physical presence that was difficult to ignore. "It must be Jess's wedding gift!" Anne said, and she attacked the taped center with scissors. Once she got it open, she began to jump and sing impromptu hymns to joy. We now have a fondue pot. Last night we found a can of Sterno, and tonight we will, for the first time in recorded history, melt cheese and dip bread and apples and broccoli into it in our very own home. We are sending a letter of thanks to the Swiss government for the invention of fondue, and another to Jess, for whom we have begun praying that he be accorded the status of a demigod. With this much deliciousness, I will no longer have to be awake more than two hours of the day, just long enough to enjoy the fondue.