Murphy and the Post Office
Murphy. You remember my BFF, right? Today I had a little laugh at his expense. Or maybe I laughed to keep from crying. It’s a toss up sometimes.
Let me start from the beginning. I’ve been helping hubby sell some of his unwanted tools on Ebay. One buyer bought three tools but they needed to be shipped to Australia. This was gonna require a trip to the post office . Let me just state right now that I am not a fan of the post office. There are usually long lines and lots of grumpy people, customers and workers alike.
Anyway, I started my usual Thursday routine by going to hot yoga with plans to stop by the post office on the way home. The problem with that is after yoga I kinda look like I just climbed out of the swimming pool. I’m usually soaked – yes, in sweat – from head to toe. The thought of going in to one of my least favorite establishments looking like this was not sounding very peachy. Now, the road leading to the post office had some construction going on. One lane was closed so they had a flagger at each end to move the cars along. As I drove past the first construction worker I gave a polite smile but my eyes stayed focused on the road ahead. But he gave a little wave. Awkward. I turned my head slightly in his direction and amped up my smile just a bit. Really awkward.
At the post office, I was a little confused about the entrance so I ended up going in the “out” and almost hit a pedestrian on a bicycle. Lovely. This is not looking good. Inside the post office I met Tim. He give me the appropriate customs forms to fill out and suggested I use a sturdier box. I had carried the tools in shoe box that I found at home.
I should back up in explain that this particular shoe box is also the “crib” for The Little Girl’s baby doll. She had a near come apart when she thought that her “crib” was getting shipped to Australia. I assured her that I would get a new box at the post office, but in the back of my mind I wasn’t positive this would happen since my previous post office experiences have been less than helpful.
So, I was delighted that Tim offered me another box. While he worked through my international transaction we made small talk and actually had a very nice and pleasant conversation. He gave me all the pertinent info I needed and made sure I understood the transit time and tracking info. It was such a pleasant experience that I tweeted about it when I left. With the international shipping out of my hands, and having just had the most positive experience ever at the post office combined with the high that comes after yoga, I was feeling pretty good. Then I realized that I had to drive back through the construction and have another awkward moment with my flagger friend. Oh me.
With the awkward moment completed, I settled in for my ride home down Briley Parkway, which was pretty uneventful until I got to the exit. I suddenly realized I had left the infamous shoe box (I mean, “crib”) at the post office in Madison. Augh…. Murphy! So I got off my exit only to get back on Briley Parkway.
I came to terms with the fact that this would put a 30-45 minute delay my already very tight schedule but I would have been in big trouble if I didn’t retrieve that shoe box. Oh the things we do for our kids. Just a few days ago a friend told me that sometimes when we have to wait something good happens in the mean time. I prayed that was what was happening to me now even though I was less than thrilled about driving back to Madison. Not 10 seconds later I got an email showing that another item sold on Ebay. At this point, I remember that we’re running low on boxes at home and reason that I can use the extra trip back to the post office to get more boxes. Take that Murphy. *shakes fist in air triumphantly*
About half way to the post office I realize that I will have to go back through the construction zone and see my construction friend for the third time. And that’s when I begin to laugh. I laughed and laughed and laughed. I’m not sure why this was so funny to me. I was just imagining his face as I drove past again and again and again with me doing my awkward smile and his little wave. Maybe you had to be there.
At this point, I was more annoyed about the construction zone than I was about the entire trip back to the post office. Sure enough, the third time was just as awkward as the first and probably more so. I arrived at the post office, went inside and there sat the lonely little shoe box. I picked up supplies and other boxes while I was there and headed back out to the car. When I passed my construction friend for the fourth time he had quite a confused look on his face. Yeah, it’s me – AGAIN. I may or may not have been laughing uncontrollably at this point. Murphy may throw my plans out the window but I wasn’t going to let him get my sense of humor. And that’s when I picked up my phone and used voice recognition to type this blog post on the way home. Yes, I was multitasking in an effort to get back my lost minutes from Murphy.
Nice try Murphy, but not today! 😉
*pats shoe box sitting safely next to me in the passenger seat*