Miss Me/All Mail Has Not Been Posted!

Miss me? I've missed sharing my views to an interested world - I can tell you that! I don't know where the time went - I'm usually much better at communication.

Speaking of communication....Christmas kind of sucked in the land of Okinawa. Oh, the gift giving and receiving was wonderful, the food added unwanted pounds and the decorations were Griswold worthy - but I'm talking about Christmas cards and specifically the Post Office.

When we lived here before - the daily trip to the post office was the highlight of each day. You don't get home delivery over here - you must physically go to the post office. Well, our last tour was well before email, texting, vonage, skype, etc. The USPS was all you had, baby. Every day except Sunday, you trekked to the post office to see what mail you might have. Some days your neighbor asked you to get her mail - she just gave you the key. Sometimes nothing. Sometimes only a bill. Magazines seemed to come all on the same day. But personal letters - nothing like it in the world! Someone actually took the time to put pen to paper. It was a wonderful feeling. But the most special feeling was the yellow slip. It meant you had a package.

Young Marines worked at the post office. I had one neighbor bake goodies for them all the time. Her creativity worked - they would not only call her when she received a box - they would help her load it when she got there.

The most profound thing about the mail - when all the mail had been put out for the day - the Marines would put a sign in the window - "All Mail Has Been Posted." That meant they were done for the day - so you did not need to come back. (And as silly as it sounds - when you are desperate for communication - you check 3 and 4 times a day.)

So fast forward to the present. The Post Office is no where near the happening place it was. First of all - no mail on Wednesday. They don't issue keys - only combinations. No sign saying if they are done posting mail. The only thing that is the same is the yellow slips. There is still nothing like seeing that in your box.

Anyway - I mailed all my cards the first Monday in December. I was very proud of myself knowing that even though I moved 10,000 miles - people would still get a card from me.

YEAH. A WEEK AFTER CHRISTMAS.

I don't know why it took so long to get to the States -but I'm blaming that for the reason we received so few cards. To those that asked for my address - you have no idea how much your cards meant to us. For those still receiving our cards (and please, check the postmark) - I am totally expecting your holiday card now that you have our address. And a little yellow card in my box wouldn't hurt, either!