Friday, December 5, 2008

The Post Office Part II

My friend Melissa has a story about the post office on her blog…and I as well had my own personal experience on the same day…at the same post office!

Here is the link to her eventful moment…
http://haskells5.blogspot.com/2008/12/he-sent-her.html

Once I finished helping Melissa I went to stand in the line that was out the door. Normally I would have opted out and went to the post office another time but I had to get my brother’s package in the mail to go to Iraq…that way he gets it before Christmas…and yesterday was the last guaranteed day.

As I was standing in line this “sweet” older lady asked me "if my package was going to someone in the war". I said "yes"…she wanted to make small talk and I wasn’t too chatty - I know…Tina…not chatty???...what’s up with that…well since I had been up at the crack of dawn finishing Larry’s gift I was really tired - not chatty. I told her “yes…my brother was there”.
Which at this point wasn’t a lie….he is in the middle of the war…then she said “has he been in the military long?” Once again…I would like to reiterate I wasn’t up to chatting…so I thought if I said "yes my brother was in military" the conversation would end.

----I should mention that my Mom was in the truck with John----

I didn’t mean to lie to this lady…I was just tired and didn’t want to explain how he works for a company from Houston, and he is over there actually working as a civilian, he is on a military base, and he works for the military as a civilian so he is not in the military but he works...blah...blah...blah. Ugh...please move line...please move!!

Well…she started peppering me with questions like a press frenzy questioning Sarah Palin about her wardrobe! Questions like…is he married…how old is he…what does his wife think of this…does he have any kids…is he happy….is their marriage in trouble…on…and on… I kept giving short answers since my little lie was starting to snowball.

I told her that I loved my brother very much and I missed him…and thank goodness cause that got her started on her family. I found out that she has two younger brothers and two old sisters. One of her brothers is like the Dad in the family…they had Christmas in July cause one lives here, one lives there…and did you know the weather over there is like that…and her brothers wife is from Monterrey, Mexico and doesn’t speak english at all but her brother is fluent in spanish but nobody else in the family is…and she doesn’t smile much which makes the entire family uncomfortable….at this point I am asking God to please move the line a little faster.

Twenty-Two (22 that is) minutes later...

Finally my break came and I sprinted to the counter….never so glad to see a post office clerk in my life! I looked back to wish her a Merry Christmas but she was too busy telling everyone else in line about my brother...in the military...in Iraq...that I missed every much - so I got clapped and several “thank yous” as I left the building!! Ugh....

When I got the truck I had to tell my Mom about my adventures at the post office.
She cut me off and said she had her own stories!
She found an Alaskan quarter in my car…she only needs the Alaska & Hawaii quarters to complete her collection…apparently she dropped the quarter and she was bend over in the seat looking at the floor.

----The truck was running…it was like 35 degrees all day yesterday! ----

All of a sudden the driver’s door flew open…Mom expecting to see me…instead saw a tall...dark stranger…not a cute one either! She gasped and apparently he did too! He had the wrong car…his car was parked next to ours.

After Mom’s heart stopped beating out of control...she locked the doors...and went back to look for that Alaska quarter…which we still can not find!

As bizarre time...it was sort of funny…Mom and I laughed all the way home.

1 comment:

Linda said...

I've learned the same lesson about a little white lie snowballing into an avalanche. Sorry for your day, but makes a great story to tell.