On Mail, Cigars, and Hot Dogs
I'm not sure if I've written about Joe's love of cigars before. If I have, please forgive me for the repetition.
Joe was a cigar smoker, but even more so, he was a cigar collector. When we moved into this house, I had plans to make the smallest bedroom into an office. I had planned out where the computer would go, where the futon would go, and had the color scheme in my head.
Joe had different plans. He envisioned the room to be a "cigar room." He would change out the closet, line it with cedar, put in slanting shelves, and a humidification unit. He would fill it with thousands of cigars, and put on a glass door with lighting. He pictured burgundy leather chairs, and a surround sound system for movies.
Guess whose vision came true. Yep, it wasn't mine.
Joe loved his cigar room, and spent countless hours taking care of his cigars. He took pride in his collection, and would show it off, along with the rest of the room, to visitors. When Joe died, I sold most of the cigars. I just didn't have the energy or the interest to take care of the cigars the way they needed to be cared for. I kept about 500 or so (which is a tiny portion of what he owned) and put them in humidors in the basement. Then I turned the cigar room into a playroom. (a post for a different day.)
Joe also loved the mail. In fact he was obsessed with the mail. When I would get home from work, he would call me and ask what was in the mail that day. Whatever I was doing I would have to stop, bring the mail in, and tell him what arrived. It was rather annoying, truth be told.
And of course his favorite pieces of mail were cigar catalogs. The arrival of the JR Cigars catalog in particular brought him great joy. He would pore over it for hours with the excitement of a little boy in a candy store.
Jacob has recently become obsessed with the mail. I'm not sure how or why it started, but he now wakes up asking about the mail, and then checks for it throughout the day. When the mail arrives, it is celebration time in our house. Jacob grabs the mail out of the box, and gleefully rips open the envelopes. He then spends hours obsessing over the mail he has received. It's rather odd, but quite cute.
Today there was a special piece of mail waiting for Jacob. It was the J.R. Cigar catalog. And Jacob was in heaven. He read the catalog from front to back, and got more and more excited with each page. When we went to the library for story hour, he insisted on bringing the catalog. When we met friends for dinner at a restaurant, the catalog came too.
The best part? He kept telling me to look at all the different hot dogs! He thought it was a hot dog catalog.
I'm sure Joe is proud just the same though.
-b