O.k.,

To quote a Peter Gabriel song

Tell them how my life is one big adventure,
And always they're amazed.

Every time I wake up I am prepared for an adventure - It's gonna happen and I like that! Today it involved the Post Office, my mistake and some sneaky children's help organization.

I went to the post office this morning to post the rest of my cards. That done I went shopping and came home to do some work around the house.

I was cleaning out some boxes and found some stuff that I should have sent out in the mail a while back! As I prepped everything I realized that I should go back to the P.O. to mail out the packages.

I prepped two of them and put them aside........I went to check on my mail and saw some money, a Christmas card and one card that oddly enough was to the person to whom I was mailing a package to.

I saw that the returned card was missing the STATE NAME-I thought that was weird- and didn't think anything about it.......

Luckily I hadn't closed the package, so I slipped the card into the envelope, sealed it and addressed it.

----------------------

I went back to the P.O. and posted two parcels, one to Timbuktu and the other to Timbukthree! I thanked the woman and walked out of the building. I went to get two money orders and pulled out the receipt from the P.O. and looked at it. The one package, that went to Timbuktu was correct. The Timbukthree package was headed toward Wachington D.C.

I panicked and thought that I could go back to the P.O. and see what I did wrong. I cashed my check and went back to see if I could get the package error (my error really!) corrected and get peace of mind.

I could always get the money orders there and some stamps too!

When I made the lobby I saw that the girl who helped me was gone, BUT MY TWO packages were in the hallway behind the counter in a cart! I was hopping on my feet, I was sure that someone from the back would push the
cart to the back and make my problem worse. I got up to the clerk and asked for his help. I explained that the package I sent was going to the wrong zip code and I needed his help.

I pointed out the package I could see and the one I suspected was the "wrong way" package and he pulled it from the cart. I explained to him that I figured out that the ZIP CODE was wrong. HE was able to pull a tattered yellow pages style book from his work area and manually looked up the zip code for me. I joked with him about not having the info on computer and he told me that there was some kind of wait for the system to properly get the correct code for me.

He then told me that the town didn;t exist. On the package, I had changed the town name by one letter! We finally came to a concensus as to what I had done and he fixed the envelope for me!

I thanked him profusely and walked out to the car, happy as a lark....

I forgot my stamps and money orders......I went for a little spin to ANOTHER POST OFFICE-three times would be a real shame, eh?

I got there and bought my money orders and my stamps! Finally!
On the way back home I stopped to buy some gas and bought 5 lottery tickets, by this time I was feeling lucky! I made it home, filled out my money orders and got them ready for the mail, I looked at the card that I had received and when I opened it up-grant you it had a nice computer printed envelope and a NY address on the back....I thought it might be from someone I knew who had moved out there and sent me a company Christmas card.

I opened it up and there was a child's face on the card and he had a hare lip.
I actually recoiled and thought, Who the Eff would send out something like THAT! It actually came from a child care/help organization that helps kids with physical problems. I was so shocked by that photo and the three others that I tossed the whole shebang into the waste can.

I thought I'd walk over to the mail box and put my cards in for tomorrow.
Instead I sat down with a beer, a quarter and my lottery scratchers....

Great thought! I won 4 dollars-plus my original 5 dollar investment.
And I got all my postal problems solved.

I love the post office!