Surly Thursday is RUINED sort of

 Okay. So. When Angus was here at Christmas, he was still interviewing with the Guardians. We had no idea if he was going to be moving or to where. Plus he always comes home with only carry-on baggage. So he stuffed whatever Christmas presents he could in his bag and I boxed up the rest to ship to him when he was the least bit settled. 

He got the job and moved to Arizona, but was in a hotel suite for a couple of months. Then he moved to Akron and got an apartment. I figured it was a good time to send the box.

He had also mentioned that he thought it would be fun to get sneakers (running shoes?) that match the Rubber Ducks jersey. His birthday is coming up in early May and I never know what to get him. I know it's super risky buying any kind of clothing for someone else - fit? style? - let alone someone living in another country, but he has always preferred getting presents over money and he likes to be surprised, and I have a pretty good record of getting stuff he likes. 

So I went online and found some shoes that I felt sort of went with the jersey he's wearing in this photo that comes up when you Google him. I love him in orange. I used to dress him in orange all the time back when I dressed him (less recently than you might think, lol).

I know I have ordered on Canadian websites and shipped directly to a US address in the past - he's lived in the U.S. for over six years now. Clearly I should have investigated the concrete ways in which cross-border mailing has changed recently. I couldn't ship from Adidas Canada to a U.S. address. I couldn't ship from Adidas U.S. with a Canadian billing address. There were probably a couple other avenues I could have explored, but I decided to just order them to my house and then mail them to him.

This was a mistake.

I went to the UPS store with the box of Christmas presents and the box of shoes. They wouldn't even take the box of Christmas stuff if I couldn't itemize what was inside it, which I could not because I had boxed it up weeks before and I have no memory. They took the shoes once I described them in minute detail. They said there would probably be duties to pay on the shoe package. I was so fed up with the whole process I said I didn't care. 

I brought the box of Christmas presents back home. I complained bitterly to my husband and pushed a laundry basket of dirty clothes down the stairs in a totally lame attempt at a temper tantrum.

A couple of days later I got a notification of the duties due on the shoes, which was an absolutely stupid amount. I tried to see if I could just get the package returned, but couldn't figure out how, and Matt said just to pay it and consider it a lesson learned.

At bar night I was ranting about the whole stupid mess and they asked to see the shoes, and when I showed Collette the picture she gave me a strange look and said they were 'interesting'. I thought she thought the style was weird, but it turns out she thought the shoes were pink. Nobody else disagreed with her to an extent that was reassuring, and I was assuming it was just my phone camera but low key doubting myself. Matt was away so I didn't even have someone who had seen the actual shoes to back me up. I told my friends I was never sharing with them again. Then I looked at the Rubber Ducks jerseys and realized that there is also a blue one that maybe gets used more often, so should I have bought blue shoes instead? 

But THEN I was at work Wednesday and got these from Angus.

He's always been grateful for anything, but this level of happiness was very gratifying. I screenshotted the texts to send to our bar night WhatsApp with the caption "Suck it, you colour-blind losers."

That sort of takes the wind out of my surly sails, although I still have the rest of the stuff, including the very expensive cologne I got him that now has to live with me until I drive to Akron, I guess? The UPS guys said I can't mail cologne, it's on the list of things that might be harmful. I mean, judgy, you didn't even smell it yet. Any other time I would have just lied about what was in the box but apparently THAT doesn't fly anymore. I guess I will have to think more carefully about his Christmas guests going forward. And figure out a way to order and ship directly to him. UGHGHGHGHGHGH, I don't want buying my son stuff to become a word problem, I am BAD at logic.