I mailed a package through the USPS on Monday morning November 9.  It was going to an address in Somerset County Pennsylvania.  Nothing unusual, just a small box I mailed Priority Mail.

According to the tracking provided by the USPS, my package departed the Herndon Post Office at 1:56 PM on the day I mailed it.  At 8:54 PM on November 10 it arrived at the USPS Regional Facility called the Memphis TN Network Distribution Center, a distance of about 875 miles from Herndon.

At 9:17 PM on that same day, it departed the Memphis TN Network Distribution Center on its way to the Memphis TN Distribution Center Annex, which from what I could determine from the internet, is a building next to the Memphis TN Network Distribution Center.

At 5:23 PM on November 16 it arrived.

It took six days for my package to go from one building to the other on the same property.

On November 17 my tracking information informed me that my package would be arriving later than expected. No kidding, that was comforting.

On November 18 my tracking information indicated it was “In Transit to the next Facility.”

At this point, I printed all this out and made a visit to the Herndon Post Office to see what they had to say about the whereabouts of my package.  The nice lady at the post office confirmed it was somewhere but gave me a phone number of the facility in Memphis to see if they had any idea where my package was.

I called and was told the lady who does their tracking had gone home for the day, (she leaves at 12:30 PM) and could I call back tomorrow?

Before calling in the morning I checked my tracking again and was informed my package was finally out on delivery.

At 10:27 PM on the evening of November 18, it had arrived at the facility in Warrendale, Pennsylvania just outside of Pittsburgh, 780 miles from Memphis and the next day, arrived at the post office in Rockwood PA for delivery.

Ten days after I mailed it.

I haven’t paid too much attention to the status of the election but I understand there are accusations of voter fraud and such and so it is still getting sorted out.  I might suggest to President Trump he go look for some votes at that Memphis Network Distribution Center.

But though I think arguing that there was no voter fraud in this election would be like arguing the fact that there isn’t any organized crime in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Detroit, and Nevada; maybe the Pennsylvania folks in charge of creating their election rules knew something about how long it takes for mail to get to Pennsylvania.

 

I have said before, I write when I cry and I cry when I write.

Today is one of those days.

This week has been one of those weeks.

And I always feel sorry for my wife because I am not one who sheds tears gracefully.

No, it’s ugly.

I snort and jerk and make funny noises and my face gets all contorted.

And for some reason, this morning was my time to snort and contort.

 

Fear.

Once again this year we are living in fearful times and it’s sad.

And this sadness seemed to grip me starting on Friday.

Dan Navarro had a post on Facebook about his song “We Belong,” so of course, I had to relive those words.

Then Saturday a trip to Sam’s Club finding the toilet paper and paper towel aisle bare, proof that fear was taking hold once again.

And due to our need to be concerned about visiting our aging parents, especially now that Kim’s mom is in Northern Virginia, we had to disappoint Cameron by not attending church with him and passing on a trip to Top Golf which I thought was too risky.

But this morning the image of dancing with Alexa at her wedding, the wedding I hadn’t planned to attend, but I surprised her by hopping on a plane the evening before and hunkered down in Boca while I waited to surprise her in Fort Lauderdale, really was the spike in the heart.

I couldn’t make that spontaneous trip now.

Because of fear.

And that image brought back the reminder that Kim and I haven’t seen those kids in eleven months, not since last Christmas, and that they were scheduled to come up to Virginia for Thanksgiving but had to cancel.

Because of fear.

Then while I had myself really down for the count I saw my sister-in-law, Carl’s wife’s post about how she couldn’t sleep last night, which I could only imagine would be every night for me.

And seeing my neighbors putting up Christmas lights and wondering why?  Why this year?

 

Sorry, you are probably right now saying “Gee whiz Curt…Just shoot me…”

 

Last week I listened again to an awesome sermon from our friends at Christ Church in Easton, Maryland.

On Friday, I listened to it a second time.

It was titled Perfect Love Casts Out Fear.

It comes from 1 John 4:18:

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.

 

And then from another sermon this morning I heard these words from a song:

“I’m no longer a slave of fear, oh I am a child of God.”

 

All reminding me I just need to quit my blithering, recognize there are those we won’t share holidays with…Donny, Carl, my father in law Royal; but there are others that we will at some point.  Love survives weeks, months, even years; it is unconditional and faith, even the size of the mustard seed I am exhibiting this morning, will get us there eventually.

 

So Happy Anniversary to Alexa and Namaan and Happy Thanksgiving to all those I won’t be sharing with this year.

I might just put up some Christmas decorations today.

Or maybe mail another package to Pennsylvania for some entertainment this week.

 

And for my sister in law Teesha, I will share these words from Dan Navarro and Eric Lowen:

Close your eyes and try to sleep now
Close your eyes and try to dream
Clear your mind and do your best to try and wash the palette clean
We can’t begin to know it, how much we really care
I hear your voice inside me, I see your face everywhere
Still you say

We belong to the light, we belong to the thunder
We belong to the sound of the words we’ve both fallen under
Whatever we deny or embrace for worse or for better
We belong, we belong, we belong together

 

We do.

And someday soon I hope, we will.