USPS Prevails!

The other night I got a message in the middle of the night from Sara; "We're being evacuated because of a tsunami warning. Pray that everything will be ok."

"That goofy Sara..." I thought as I read the message. She had been sending me "tsunami" messages for the last two weeks as she had endured rain on her little island of Oahu. Here I was freezing my butt off in the dead of winter and she was complaining about warm island rain!

I had planned to get up early the next morning to drive to Babb, MT to put a new phone in the mail for Sara. Since the robbery she had been relying on Ben's phone to communicate and his phone was mostly with him so she'd been a bit out of touch. She was anxious to get the new phone and I was anxious for her to have it. I really had missed her random mid day texts.

Imagine m surprise when I rolled out of bed at 6:30 Friday morning and the headline news on my computer was EARTHQUAKE IN JAPAN!! Now I'm not very good at geography but because I've been to Hawaii and seen all the Japanese brides on the beach, I concluded that Japan must be close to Hawaii. And earthquakes cause tsunamis and Sara wasn't kidding. baha!!

I clicked CNN on my computer and watched the waves hit the shores of Waikiki. A little relieved by the seemingly tame tsunami pounding the Hawaiian shore, I got ready to head off to Babb.

I reached the Babb post office in less than 40 minutes and was right on schedule for getting my list of errands done for this Friday morning. The events in Japan weighed heavily on my mind. I wasn't so worried about my Sara and her Ben anymore but my heart ached for the people of Japan.

I chatted with the postal clerk for a few minutes about the events of the morning and then in a lame attempt to make light of a heavy situation I quipped, " Well, my daughter has been evacuated. I hope the post office isn't swept away. I really want her to get this phone."

Steve stood a little more erect behind the counter and he got the most serious look on his face. "There's NOTHING to worry about Ma'am!" he exclaimed emphatically. "The US postal service is very reliable. Even if the post office is damaged or washed away, the postal service will set up alternate locations for people to collect their mail. The mail always gets through. She'll have this phone by Tuesday at the latest."

I thanked Steve politely, bid him a good day and waited unitl I was outside before I shook my head and laughed out loud.

Thank goodness for the US Postal Service. In this crazy world we need one thing that we can really count on.

Post Script: Sara sent me a text message MONDAY afternoon from her new phone. Amen. ...and God bless the USPS!