Lateness and Letters

I just mailed my Mom's Mother's Day card last night.  Many of you know that I am habitually late mailing letters and packages.  And, I'm sure that some of you find this lateness annoying.  My Mom understands why I frequently mail things late.  She also understands that the longer things linger in my kitchen, the more love they accumulate.


Here's a not-so-brief explanation of why the card was so late.  We had the card well in advance.  But when I went to mail it, I realized that after the girls had signed it, Cassie had embellished the envelope with a 3 by 5 inch "Oma."  There was no space left to write the address.  Since I was going to have to purchase another envelope, I decided to wait until the girls' school pictures arrived.  In the interim, someone's sticky fingers managed to get some kind of sticky beverage on the envelope.  The pictures reached our house and I tried to schedule a time to purchase a new envelope and mail the card.  A couple small obstacles were in my path.  First, I am a little short on energy.  When I saw my doctor last week, she informed me that my body currently has about half the volume of blood that it should have.  The reason I'm sharing this small fact with you is that I'm convinced I'm on the verge of making it into "The Guinness Book of World Records," for being the only person on the planet who can function with such a limited amount of blood.  And, when I'm listed in the esteemed book, I'm going to sell autographed copies on eBay.  Then, you can say you knew me when!


The second, and more significant hurdle was finding adequate time to visit the fax & mail place down the road. This small, family-owned establishment has played a huge role in our lives.  The business is run by the parents, their two daughters, and "Tony," who fills in when the kids are in school and Mom and Dad are tending their other shop.  For over three years, these wonderful people handled the mountain of adoption-related papers that we had to fax and mail.  They discounted our charges, saying that this was their contribution to the adoption.  They made phone calls to verify addresses and to ensure that the paperwork with extremely short deadlines would all arrive on time.  Tony frequently dipped into his own pocket to help me with the expenses.  When my Dad was sick, Tony paid for overnight shipping of my Father's Day gift, to ensure that it arrived as quickly as possible. He did this without even telling me.  When we received our referral for Lacey, the fax & mail folks were among the first to see her picture.  And, after Lacey arrived, we had to take photos of the four girls together.  I think you're starting to understand why mailing a package is not a casual stop for me.


Today I dropped Cassie off at ballet class amd finally went to mail my Mom's card.  Before I could seal the envelope, I had to show the girls' photos to Tony.  I then had to update him on Lacey's progress and the girls' grades.  We moved on to discuss his young adult daughter and her summer job.  After that, we covered marriage, divorce, religion and public education.  We were just delving into the topic of domestic adoption when other customers arrived.  Tony apologized for having to return to work.  I told him that was okay because Cassie's dance class only lasts for an hour!  As I left, Tony was printing a mailing label for the envelope.  He has memorized my Mom's name and knows where to find her address in the computer.  I promised Tony that I'd return soon and that I'd bring the girls next time.


My Mom's card is on its way.  And, so ends the story of the love and care that went into mailing it.