Lost In Transit

Mail.  As funny as it sounds some of my earliest memories involve receiving mail.  As a child I remember the excitement of walking to the mailbox, standing on my tippy toes and reaching inside to retrieve the envelopes inside.  Granted, at that age there was rarely anything addressed to me, but that didn't matter.  My senior year in high school I would stalk the mail man waiting for the arrival of my college acceptance letter.  Then during my college years mail evolved into something coveted by the entire campus.  Ironically my designated mailbox in the basement of the student center was on the very top of the stack meaning I still had to stand on my toes to see inside.  But spotting a yellow card stock slip inside, the sign that not only did I have envelopes, but I had actual packages, was beyond exciting.

Fast forward a few decades and living overseas the twice weekly arrival of mail is beyond exciting.  My mailbox is still on the very top of the stack, viewable only when I am wearing high heels, and is more apt to be filled with bills than personal correspondence, but that doesn't matter.  Sometimes there are magazines and other glimpses of home.  The much anticipated email sent out to the embassy community announcing who has received packages immediately initiates a flow of traffic to the mailroom similar to ants following a line of crumbs.  For many of us, online shopping is our lifeline to our American world since everything from FDA approved medicines and favorite foods to Christmas presents and items that are impossible to find in Albania arrives via mail.

Because all of our mail arrives through the Embassy, we are able to have a U.S. based mailing address where we can receive not only items shipped through the postal service but also via FedEx and UPS.  Although there are strict requirements as to the content, size, and shape of what can be sent, the world is literally at our virtual fingertips.  Items arrive at our northern Virginia address within days of being ordered before they begin their slow and often unpredictable transit across the Atlantic.  Because of this, I've become even more of a planner than ever.  Medicines are reordered months before I run out and Christmas has been shopped for before the end of September.  Sometimes it only takes a matter of days for packages to arrive and other times it can be weeks, or as has been the case at least once a year since we arrived, months.  And then there are the times when packages simply don't arrive.

I guess I have been lucky since this has only happened to me twice over the course of the past two and half years.  And given the frequency of which I shop, my batting average is pretty darn good.  But all of the good odds in the world don't matter when a much coveted item never appears.  My first no-show item was a new Ann Taylor dress, ordered in mid-March with the intent of wearing it for a reception in mid-May. It was a splurge but I clicked "order" and anxiously awaited its arrival.  And I waited.  March became April which eventually became May and still no dress.  Ann Taylor claims the package was delivered to my mailing address but ten months later I have yet to receive it.  I've all but given up on it but have been assured that should it arrive after we have departed Albania, it will be forwarded to our new address.  And that would mean a package in my mailbox, right?

My second disappearing package was more recent and a lot less costly.  In October I carefully counted out our remaining number of Splenda packets and calculated how many we would need to see us through until our move.  Wanting free shipping, I also bought two tubes of our favorite American branded toothpaste and hit the order button.  Once again, the order went through and was delivered to our address but has yet to appear here in Albania.  It is by no means the end of the world; as of last week we've taken to using plain old white sugar in our coffee and I bought a tube of Greek produced toothpaste in a local grocery store.  Once again I've been told that should this box arrive after we depart in a few weeks it will also be forwarded on to us.  At that point it will be sort of moot since Splenda and American toothpaste will be readily available to us.  But should it show up, I'm sure I'll be unnecessarily excited because I will once again have another package.  Some things really don't change.... (although this time around I am hoping for a mailbox at a lower level).

You've Got Mail (Or Not)

In college it was the little yellow slip of paper tucked into the mailbox in the basement mailroom of the campus center.  Here it is the new email that arrives in your in box each Monday and Thursday afternoon signaling that the plane arrived with the pouches.  Both notifications- sent twenty plus years apart, indicate the same thing.  I have a package waiting to be picked up. Some things never change; the excitement is the same for me.  In both cases I rush to the mailroom and stand in line to sign for my precious new arrivals.

More often than not, in college that package was a box filled with quirky items sent from my mom. Home baked goodies, a trinket picked up during her travels, or even a bottle of shampoo, it was all exciting.  In reality the contents of the package didn't matter since it was the thought and connection with the outside world that was really important.  Today the arrival of mail is still my connection with the outside world.  I may have purchased the contents myself and more often than not, the package consists of diapers, toys, and other Sidney centered items, but it doesn't matter.  It is still a connection to the world outside of Albania.  Here we rely on our mail arriving twice a week via diplomatic pouch. This is on a good week.  On a bad week it might not arrive at all; or  as was the case last fall, it might not arrive for six weeks. Yup, no mail for a full six weeks.  Talk about a let down.

Then as in now, not receiving a package on mail day is disappointing.  Back then, peering into the mailbox and seeing nothing but an empty metal abyss was a sure disappointment.  It was even more so when everyone around me received something.  Now when that email arrives in my inbox I immediately scan the list to see if I am one of the lucky ones who gets to rush to the mailroom and stand in line.  Perhaps what is even more disappointing is when the email comes out saying that no mail arrived today.  Or this week for that matter.  Such has been the case of late.  I envision my packages piling up in a warehouse in Dulles, Virginia just waiting to be shipped overseas.....

I'm sure all this sounds silly to most people. But for those of us who rely on these little pick-me-ups to make it through those not so easy weeks (after all running to Target is not an option), not getting my mail is disappointing. It is more than the ball dress not arriving before the ball, the Halloween candy arriving the day after the holiday, or the medicine not getting here before the next illness hits.  It is a lack of a tangible connection with the outside world.

This has been a week when I really wanted to receive my mail.  I've been bracing myself for it but I'm fearful that we are entering another long period without any mail.  Yes I know I will survive without them but life would be so much easier if my incoming boxes would hurry up and arrive.  I just want to open my inbox on Monday and see those magical words:  you have mail.